The interest in a credit card debt loan has greatly increased over the past few years, as many people are not just overwhelmed with credit card debt but have also found themselves to be unemployed or terribly underemployed.
some Steps to Beat Credit Card Debt
It's not always simple and not always easy to beat credit card debt, but it can be done. Many people might scoff at this since they have literally thousands of dollars worth of credit card and other debt, but there are also thousands of people that live
7 Tips to Modify Your Loan and Lower Your Payment
If you are one of the thousands of homeowners trying to get help to stay in their home with a Wells Fargo loan modification that will lower your mortgage payment, you need to learn about how to increase your chances for success.
Cut Down on Your Phone Bills During the Economic Slump
With the economy continuing to plummet further each day, it pays to cut costs wherever you can. While many individuals and families are choosing to cut larger expenses - such as holidays - out of their overall budget, countless others are economising on a more daily basis. This could entail anything from thrifty food shopping and minimized retail shopping to a cut on utility bills.
But one of the most prevalent daily expenditures that people are trying to cut down on is their phone bill. Whether with regard to a house line or a cell phone, a lot of people use their phones throughout the day, not realising just how many minutes their phone usage adds up to. So when they get their phone bill at the end of the month, it's often a surprise - not to mention a reminder that they need to be careful with how much they use their phone.
However, certain calls can't always be compromised - for example, when it has to do with work. Moreover, some people enjoy talking to family members on a fairly regular basis - whether it's once a week or once a day. So, how can you economise on even the most important calls?
One way is to utilise an online calling service or internet calling software. Such services enable users to make calls all across the country - and beyond - for free. And because the internet is readily available on many cell phones these days, you don't even have to be at a computer to make use of internet calling software. All you need to do is install the free software, and you're set for free calls.
Online calling services also usually come with a range of useful, free features such as video calling, instant messaging (IM) and conference calls - so you can also see the person you're talking to!
What's more, you'll usually have the option to upgrade with a subscription, enabling you to gain access to even more great features like voicemail, sending and receiving SMS messages, and call forwarding - so all those expensive calls you used to make can suddenly turn cheap. Many online calling services also operate on a credit basis, enabling you to use various services as often - or as little - as you want.
Therefore, it is good to know that it is possible to make cheap calls via the internet with an online calling service. In fact, you might be happy you made the switch when you don't get a massive phone bill at the end of the month!
But one of the most prevalent daily expenditures that people are trying to cut down on is their phone bill. Whether with regard to a house line or a cell phone, a lot of people use their phones throughout the day, not realising just how many minutes their phone usage adds up to. So when they get their phone bill at the end of the month, it's often a surprise - not to mention a reminder that they need to be careful with how much they use their phone.
However, certain calls can't always be compromised - for example, when it has to do with work. Moreover, some people enjoy talking to family members on a fairly regular basis - whether it's once a week or once a day. So, how can you economise on even the most important calls?
One way is to utilise an online calling service or internet calling software. Such services enable users to make calls all across the country - and beyond - for free. And because the internet is readily available on many cell phones these days, you don't even have to be at a computer to make use of internet calling software. All you need to do is install the free software, and you're set for free calls.
Online calling services also usually come with a range of useful, free features such as video calling, instant messaging (IM) and conference calls - so you can also see the person you're talking to!
What's more, you'll usually have the option to upgrade with a subscription, enabling you to gain access to even more great features like voicemail, sending and receiving SMS messages, and call forwarding - so all those expensive calls you used to make can suddenly turn cheap. Many online calling services also operate on a credit basis, enabling you to use various services as often - or as little - as you want.
Therefore, it is good to know that it is possible to make cheap calls via the internet with an online calling service. In fact, you might be happy you made the switch when you don't get a massive phone bill at the end of the month!
Best Way to Start Making Money in Forex Trading
There's a lot of hype about forex trading, and even with the economy bouncing all over the place, there are still plenty of people checking into forex trading as a way to make money from home.
Part of the buzz forex trading has been because of just how many people are treating it as a money-making opportunity. As many people have begun earning terrific cash online trading forex, there has been more individuals seeking information on how to get started. Ok everyone, let's take a look!
The primary idea is the identical to the stock market: Buy low and sell high. So, if you're buying some Canadian dollars with US currency, each CDN dollar is worth around seventy five cents right now. If you think that the Canadian currency is going to rise in value, then it's time to purchase it now and then sell it when the value increase.
Currency Professionals will pay close attention to certain currencies and look for patterns or points that point out that there is cash that can me brought in.
Currency Traders also use forex computer trading programs that automatically them spot profit opportunities. All the professionals will use this type of software as it will cause an increase in their profits by a huge amount.
These programs can make be the difference between a profitable trader and one that fails to make money. Nobody wants to admit that a piece of software is brighter than them, but many of the traders that are making lots of money will admit that it's because of a forex software.
I know this may seem a tad perplexing or technical - especially for those who are new to forex trading. You'll notice that the best programs have been programmed by proven currency traders who know the ins and outs of the currency markets and they have purposely made them user-friendly.
Grab a forex piece of software if you're going to start trading currency. This will give you a massive jumpstart. Ordinarily, they will bring in some profitable trades for the trader automatically. This way you can let the program make some cash while you grow your knowledge of the markets. At some point you'll use both the program and your own instincts to make trades.
Pro traders all possess a certain characteristic - they are ok with taking risks and don't mind the some swings. Actually, tons of traders live off this aspect of forex trading! Naturally it takes a specific type of mindset, but if you have what it takes you can be bringing in some terrific money.
A significant benefit of forex trading is that even though a specific currency might drop in worth, it's unlikely to ever drop to a worth of zero. This is a healthy change over options trading or trading stocks.
Part of the buzz forex trading has been because of just how many people are treating it as a money-making opportunity. As many people have begun earning terrific cash online trading forex, there has been more individuals seeking information on how to get started. Ok everyone, let's take a look!
The primary idea is the identical to the stock market: Buy low and sell high. So, if you're buying some Canadian dollars with US currency, each CDN dollar is worth around seventy five cents right now. If you think that the Canadian currency is going to rise in value, then it's time to purchase it now and then sell it when the value increase.
Currency Professionals will pay close attention to certain currencies and look for patterns or points that point out that there is cash that can me brought in.
Currency Traders also use forex computer trading programs that automatically them spot profit opportunities. All the professionals will use this type of software as it will cause an increase in their profits by a huge amount.
These programs can make be the difference between a profitable trader and one that fails to make money. Nobody wants to admit that a piece of software is brighter than them, but many of the traders that are making lots of money will admit that it's because of a forex software.
I know this may seem a tad perplexing or technical - especially for those who are new to forex trading. You'll notice that the best programs have been programmed by proven currency traders who know the ins and outs of the currency markets and they have purposely made them user-friendly.
Grab a forex piece of software if you're going to start trading currency. This will give you a massive jumpstart. Ordinarily, they will bring in some profitable trades for the trader automatically. This way you can let the program make some cash while you grow your knowledge of the markets. At some point you'll use both the program and your own instincts to make trades.
Pro traders all possess a certain characteristic - they are ok with taking risks and don't mind the some swings. Actually, tons of traders live off this aspect of forex trading! Naturally it takes a specific type of mindset, but if you have what it takes you can be bringing in some terrific money.
A significant benefit of forex trading is that even though a specific currency might drop in worth, it's unlikely to ever drop to a worth of zero. This is a healthy change over options trading or trading stocks.
Clean Up Your Credit Report With These Strategies
Do you want to take advantage of the slow housing market to get a great price on your first or a bigger home? Are you trying to buy a new car - maybe one that gets better gas mileage than your SUV? Do you want to go back to school and need to borrow money? All of these sorts of things, and lots of others, often make people look into ways to clean up their credit report. And for good reason, too. The better your credit score is, the easier it is to get a loan, the less interest you will have to pay, and the overall better terms you will be able to get.
If you want to clean up your credit report, do you know how to go about doing it? Of course, the best and easiest way to have a great credit history is to pay all your bills on time, keep some outstanding debt, but only a little, and make all payments on time right from the very start. Not everyone has the life circumstances to be able to do that, however; that does not mean, though, that there is just no way to make your credit score shine.
If you want to clean up your credit report, you should take some time to look into the ways that credit scores are determined by the three major groups who provide them, and once you do that, you should look at your own personal financial situation and take the appropriate actions.
Would you be better off to close that account you only use in extreme emergencies? Would it be better to take a second job for a short time to increase your cash in hand? Should you use the money in your savings account to pay off your outstanding credit card debt? These are all the types of questions that you should get answered before you start to do things in an effort to clean up your credit report.
If you want to clean up your credit report, do you know how to go about doing it? Of course, the best and easiest way to have a great credit history is to pay all your bills on time, keep some outstanding debt, but only a little, and make all payments on time right from the very start. Not everyone has the life circumstances to be able to do that, however; that does not mean, though, that there is just no way to make your credit score shine.
If you want to clean up your credit report, you should take some time to look into the ways that credit scores are determined by the three major groups who provide them, and once you do that, you should look at your own personal financial situation and take the appropriate actions.
Would you be better off to close that account you only use in extreme emergencies? Would it be better to take a second job for a short time to increase your cash in hand? Should you use the money in your savings account to pay off your outstanding credit card debt? These are all the types of questions that you should get answered before you start to do things in an effort to clean up your credit report.
How Long Until Your Credit Score is Better After a Bankruptcy?
Bankruptcy happens more often than people care to acknowledge and seems to be happening more and more frequently as financial difficulties seem to be on the rise. One thing that is on the mind of any person that is considering filing for bankruptcy is how long it's going to take to repair their credit to a point that they will be able to fully take advantage of it.
The standard saying is that it takes seven to nine years. However, that's not entire true. The true part of that statement is that it generally takes seven to nine years to get the bankruptcy itself removed from your credit report, but that doesn't mean that your credit score will remain dismal for the entirety of that period of time.
There are plenty of things you can do to get your credit score moving back up after you've filed for bankruptcy and before it is completely removed from credit report. Although it will be a little more difficult to do so with that on your report, it's still possible and highly recommended to get started immediately.
These things you can do are some of the more basic things that you would do as if there weren't a bankruptcy on your credit report. Unfortunately, even by following responsible credit habits there is still no guaranteed amount of time that your credit will start going back up because of the many factors that involve that.
Some of what you can do to get started immediately is to always make sure you are paying your current bills on time. This is the perhaps the single most important thing you can do to start rebuilding your credit score. Even if you haven't missed a single payment in months, one missed payment can set back all of the credit you've regained.
The next thing you can do is if you have other negative things on your credit report is to start knocking them off one by one. Identify the problems, make the repayments as needed as safely as you can without hampering your ability to pay your current bills. Removing these negative items from your credit report will gain you greater strides than putting positive items on it.
One final, very important thing that you can do is to avoid taking on any high risk types of debts. Most notably, payday types of loans and high interest credit cards. The payday type loans, even if paid back immediately will act to show on your credit report that your income and your ability to manage your funds is less than suitable. High interest credit cards, often the only type a person can get when they're credit score is hurting, increase your overall debt load because of the high interest and make it difficult to keep paying all of your bills on time.
To be sure, it is a difficult time to find yourself in the position of filing bankruptcy and there is no set amount of time that ensures your credit score will rise again, however, by following basic credit responsibility you'll be able to improve that score and be on the upside again.
The standard saying is that it takes seven to nine years. However, that's not entire true. The true part of that statement is that it generally takes seven to nine years to get the bankruptcy itself removed from your credit report, but that doesn't mean that your credit score will remain dismal for the entirety of that period of time.
There are plenty of things you can do to get your credit score moving back up after you've filed for bankruptcy and before it is completely removed from credit report. Although it will be a little more difficult to do so with that on your report, it's still possible and highly recommended to get started immediately.
These things you can do are some of the more basic things that you would do as if there weren't a bankruptcy on your credit report. Unfortunately, even by following responsible credit habits there is still no guaranteed amount of time that your credit will start going back up because of the many factors that involve that.
Some of what you can do to get started immediately is to always make sure you are paying your current bills on time. This is the perhaps the single most important thing you can do to start rebuilding your credit score. Even if you haven't missed a single payment in months, one missed payment can set back all of the credit you've regained.
The next thing you can do is if you have other negative things on your credit report is to start knocking them off one by one. Identify the problems, make the repayments as needed as safely as you can without hampering your ability to pay your current bills. Removing these negative items from your credit report will gain you greater strides than putting positive items on it.
One final, very important thing that you can do is to avoid taking on any high risk types of debts. Most notably, payday types of loans and high interest credit cards. The payday type loans, even if paid back immediately will act to show on your credit report that your income and your ability to manage your funds is less than suitable. High interest credit cards, often the only type a person can get when they're credit score is hurting, increase your overall debt load because of the high interest and make it difficult to keep paying all of your bills on time.
To be sure, it is a difficult time to find yourself in the position of filing bankruptcy and there is no set amount of time that ensures your credit score will rise again, however, by following basic credit responsibility you'll be able to improve that score and be on the upside again.
Should You Hire a Bankruptcy Lawyer?
Filing for bankruptcy can be a difficult decision, knowing all your bankruptcy options and what the drawback may be will empower you to decide if bankruptcy is right for you. Finding a bankruptcy attorney is something that is highly recommended. Sure you can read plenty of "how to file bankruptcy on you own" articles and information, but nothing can replace having a bankruptcy lawyer on your side.
One of the top reasons for hiring a lawyer is because with the new bankruptcy lawyers, filing isn't quite as easy as it used to be. Having an attorney who knows the bankruptcy system, the better off your chances are of successfully filing bankruptcy. Even if you don't get denied bankruptcy on you own without a good bankruptcy attorney you could end up owing all non-secured debts (credit card bills).
There are several bankruptcy chapters you can file such as Chapter 7, chapter 11 and chapter 13. The attorney you hire will be able to tell you which one you will most likely qualify for and benefit from. The attorney will be able to inform you and what needs to be down if your home is going into foreclosure.
When you file for bankruptcy creditors can set a meeting up with you and ask several questions about what you owe them and why you are filing bankruptcy. This would also be an imperative time to have a bankruptcy attorney on your side. They can monitor the question and make sure you don't get backed into a corner. When you head to court in front of the judge, a good bankruptcy lawyer, should be able to dispute debts that you owe and creditors are insisting you still pay, even if the bankruptcy goes through. You don't want to end up filing for bankruptcy and still owe a bunch of creditors, when it is all said and done.
Creditors may also claim fraud against you just because you lost your job or had unexpected bills to pay. This would be the exact moment you would want a bankruptcy attorney to take a level headed approach in defending you and get as much debt included in your bankruptcy discharge.
Make sure when hiring an attorney, you find a local one in your state. This will be benefit you greatly because the bankruptcy laws can vary from state to state. So finding an attorney, who is most knowledgeable in your state laws, can only best for you in the end. If your hiring a lawyer from another state, possible next to your state, make sure they are up to speed on the laws where you live.
Remember you are hiring a bankruptcy lawyer to benefit you. You don't have to go through this whole process alone. Also your not going through it for nothing, you don't want to attempt to handle everything on your own and then have your bankruptcy be discharged. A good bankruptcy lawyer will get your out of debt and relieve your financial burdens. Yes it does cost money to hire a bankruptcy attorney, but it is money well spent that is actually going towards your financial freedom. Most bankruptcy lawyer, will give you a free case evaluation; if you still have hesitations, take the this approach and make sure you feel comfortable working with the attorney.
One of the top reasons for hiring a lawyer is because with the new bankruptcy lawyers, filing isn't quite as easy as it used to be. Having an attorney who knows the bankruptcy system, the better off your chances are of successfully filing bankruptcy. Even if you don't get denied bankruptcy on you own without a good bankruptcy attorney you could end up owing all non-secured debts (credit card bills).
There are several bankruptcy chapters you can file such as Chapter 7, chapter 11 and chapter 13. The attorney you hire will be able to tell you which one you will most likely qualify for and benefit from. The attorney will be able to inform you and what needs to be down if your home is going into foreclosure.
When you file for bankruptcy creditors can set a meeting up with you and ask several questions about what you owe them and why you are filing bankruptcy. This would also be an imperative time to have a bankruptcy attorney on your side. They can monitor the question and make sure you don't get backed into a corner. When you head to court in front of the judge, a good bankruptcy lawyer, should be able to dispute debts that you owe and creditors are insisting you still pay, even if the bankruptcy goes through. You don't want to end up filing for bankruptcy and still owe a bunch of creditors, when it is all said and done.
Creditors may also claim fraud against you just because you lost your job or had unexpected bills to pay. This would be the exact moment you would want a bankruptcy attorney to take a level headed approach in defending you and get as much debt included in your bankruptcy discharge.
Make sure when hiring an attorney, you find a local one in your state. This will be benefit you greatly because the bankruptcy laws can vary from state to state. So finding an attorney, who is most knowledgeable in your state laws, can only best for you in the end. If your hiring a lawyer from another state, possible next to your state, make sure they are up to speed on the laws where you live.
Remember you are hiring a bankruptcy lawyer to benefit you. You don't have to go through this whole process alone. Also your not going through it for nothing, you don't want to attempt to handle everything on your own and then have your bankruptcy be discharged. A good bankruptcy lawyer will get your out of debt and relieve your financial burdens. Yes it does cost money to hire a bankruptcy attorney, but it is money well spent that is actually going towards your financial freedom. Most bankruptcy lawyer, will give you a free case evaluation; if you still have hesitations, take the this approach and make sure you feel comfortable working with the attorney.
25 Ways to Save Money
Lots of small savings can add up big. These easy penny-pinching tricks let you preserve more of your paycheck.
Food and Drug Items
1. Shop the ethnic-food aisles. Spices, rice, and other staples are sometimes half the price of similar name-brand items at the supermarket.
2. Ask how a particular promotion works. For example, a "10 for $10" sale may not require that you purchase 10 items; you might be able to buy only what you need and still get the reduced price. (Use a coupon, and you just might end up paying nothing.)
3. Sign up for store loyalty cards. You'll get generous coupons for products that you tend to buy regularly.
4. Feeling high-tech? Try downloading online coupons onto your grocer's loyalty card. At shortcuts.com, you choose the coupons, add them to an account tied to the loyalty program, and redeem them when you show the cashier your card.
5. Visit grocery stores' Websites to find valuable savings coupons that you can print and take with you when you go shopping. When it's not prohibited, combine coupons issued by the store and those offered by the manufacturer for the same item.
6. Ask whether the store matches the advertised prices of its nearby competitors. If so, save time by bringing in other stores' flyers, and then get all of your savings in one place. And if the store accepts its competitors' coupons, bring those in with you, too.
7. Take advantage of savings programs from drugstore and discount chains. When you combine drugstores' automatic-rebate programs with their coupons and sales, you can occasionally wind up getting certain items for free. In some cases, you can even receive money back! For the latest national-drugstore bargains, visit couponmom.com.
Fuel Costs
8. Whenever possible, gas up your car at superstore fuel centers, where the average cost per gallon tends to be lower than at local service stations. Some superstores offer fuel discounts based on your grocery tab. And search for stations that will charge less if you pay cash. For the lowest gasoline prices in your area, visit the gasbuddy.com site.
9. Keep tires inflated to the proper pressure; that will improve your gas mileage by about 3 percent or so (check the sticker on the driver-side door for your car's correct tire pressure). And try to chuck all the junk from the trunk: An extra 100 pounds in your vehicle reduces mpg by about 2 percent. Driving with the air-conditioning on can increase your gasoline consumption up to 11 percent, too. Unless it's unbearably hot, roll down the windows, or apply solar film to the inside of them so the car's interior stays cool.
10. Snip your home's summer cooling bills. You can probably save 1 percent on your electric bill for every degree you set the AC thermostat above 72 degrees. Year-round, you can slice off another 1 to 2 percent by unplugging major electronics when you're not using them. "Unplug one fax, one computer monitor, and one TV, and you could save more than $70 a year," says Brad Stroh, CEO of bills.com, a consumer-finance Website in San Mateo, CA.
Online Goodies
11. Snap up deals from grocers' online photo centers. The per-print cost is often low (starting at about nine cents a photo); uploading from home is remarkably easy; and you can pick up the pictures in the store, eliminating any expensive shipping costs. Sign up for your store's e-mail newsletter, and you'll receive coupons and special offers, such as free prints for new customers or free enlargements.
12. Look for "grab bag" specials on brand-name bathing suits for your kids. The retailer picks out the color and style; you reap savings of 50 percent or more. Swimoutlet.com offers great service and selection. The Speedo Website (speedousa.com) has good grab bag savings, too; recently a $36 girl's Splice Tankini was on sale for $21.60.
13. Sign up for free samples of health and beauty products online. You can order them at sites such as freeflys.com, mysavings.com, startsampling.com, and Wal-Mart's instoresnow.walmart.com. You may need to answer a few questions, but you generally won't have to pay for shipping. And at these sites, you won't be put on spam lists.
Family Fun
14. Zap exorbitant vacation costs by swapping homes with another family. It's not too late in the season to make a trade. Home-exchange networks charge $65 to $229 for listing your home in an online directory. You'll find huge selections in the United States and abroad on intervac.com, homelink.org, homeexchange.com, and Vacation Rentals By Owner (vrbo.com). The Intervac site refunds its $95 annual membership fee if you don't get an exchange arranged within a year of signing up. Only In America Home Exchange (exchangehomesoia.com) is exactly what it sounds like and has no membership fee. Also free: asking friends or friends of friends if they're interested in a vacation switcheroo. You might even be able to swap automobiles and save yourself the cost of a car rental.
15. Try an urban vacation. Maybe Chicago or Philadelphia aren't the first places that come to mind when you think of a summer trip. But consider this: While prices at the beach and resorts spike in summer, business travel slumps — so many big-city tourist bureaus offer bargains, especially on weekends. Subway passes make transportation inexpensive and easy. And 11 metropolises (including New York City and Seattle) have passes that will admit you to attractions at up to 50 percent off the full-price ticket (cost: $34 to $247; citypass.com).
16. Buy an Entertainment Book of discount coupons; 150 areas have them (entertainment.com). In early summer, these guides sell for their lowest price of the year (about $10 per book). You can buy a book for the city you're visiting to receive "buy one, get one free" coupons for restaurants, museums, and other attractions. Once you register at the site, you can get 50 percent off hotels, discounts on rental cars, a 5 percent coupon for American Airlines, and rebates. You can also print out coupons for attractions in other cities.
17. Check out the popular travel-destination Websites like frommers.com and fodors.com for excellent insider tips on how to get discounted rates at popular attractions or to find out about free events. For example, entering San Diego at the Frommer's site and selecting "Free Attractions" recently turned up several museums with free admission one Tuesday per month.
18. Hire a personal camp counselor. Join forces with a few other local families and pay a responsible high school student or two to care for all your children during the day. The kids will enjoy many of the same types of activities as at a local day camp — tennis, hiking, swimming, crafts — at less than half the cost.
Flights and Hotels
19. Register with "fare watcher" services at the major travel search engines, like expedia.com and travelocity.com. You'll be alerted when the price drops for the ticket you want. Most sites let you select a flexible-date option to help find the lowest prices for flights.
20. Look for weekend Web deals on airlines' sites to take advantage of rock-bottom last-minute fares. Yapta.com may even get you money back if a fare has dropped since you bought the ticket.
21. Get indirect savings on travel spending. The Website upromise.com lets you earn free money in a college-savings account by booking travel. You can also earn 1 to 8 percent of your spending on hotels, car rentals, airlines, restaurants, and vacation packages.
22. Score a deal on the price of airport parking at the site longtermparking.com. You may snag a coupon to cut your cost in half.
23. When booking a hotel room, don't forget to ask about any freebies. Breakfast, parking, Internet access, or airport shuttle service included in the price of lodging can mean big savings for families.
24. Try using bidding sites such as biddingfortravel.com to stay for the lowest price.
25. Save on hotel parking charges by checking nearby parking-garage options ahead of time. You could avoid paying $25 or so per day for valet parking just by using the garage across the street.
Food and Drug Items
1. Shop the ethnic-food aisles. Spices, rice, and other staples are sometimes half the price of similar name-brand items at the supermarket.
2. Ask how a particular promotion works. For example, a "10 for $10" sale may not require that you purchase 10 items; you might be able to buy only what you need and still get the reduced price. (Use a coupon, and you just might end up paying nothing.)
3. Sign up for store loyalty cards. You'll get generous coupons for products that you tend to buy regularly.
4. Feeling high-tech? Try downloading online coupons onto your grocer's loyalty card. At shortcuts.com, you choose the coupons, add them to an account tied to the loyalty program, and redeem them when you show the cashier your card.
5. Visit grocery stores' Websites to find valuable savings coupons that you can print and take with you when you go shopping. When it's not prohibited, combine coupons issued by the store and those offered by the manufacturer for the same item.
6. Ask whether the store matches the advertised prices of its nearby competitors. If so, save time by bringing in other stores' flyers, and then get all of your savings in one place. And if the store accepts its competitors' coupons, bring those in with you, too.
7. Take advantage of savings programs from drugstore and discount chains. When you combine drugstores' automatic-rebate programs with their coupons and sales, you can occasionally wind up getting certain items for free. In some cases, you can even receive money back! For the latest national-drugstore bargains, visit couponmom.com.
Fuel Costs
8. Whenever possible, gas up your car at superstore fuel centers, where the average cost per gallon tends to be lower than at local service stations. Some superstores offer fuel discounts based on your grocery tab. And search for stations that will charge less if you pay cash. For the lowest gasoline prices in your area, visit the gasbuddy.com site.
9. Keep tires inflated to the proper pressure; that will improve your gas mileage by about 3 percent or so (check the sticker on the driver-side door for your car's correct tire pressure). And try to chuck all the junk from the trunk: An extra 100 pounds in your vehicle reduces mpg by about 2 percent. Driving with the air-conditioning on can increase your gasoline consumption up to 11 percent, too. Unless it's unbearably hot, roll down the windows, or apply solar film to the inside of them so the car's interior stays cool.
10. Snip your home's summer cooling bills. You can probably save 1 percent on your electric bill for every degree you set the AC thermostat above 72 degrees. Year-round, you can slice off another 1 to 2 percent by unplugging major electronics when you're not using them. "Unplug one fax, one computer monitor, and one TV, and you could save more than $70 a year," says Brad Stroh, CEO of bills.com, a consumer-finance Website in San Mateo, CA.
Online Goodies
11. Snap up deals from grocers' online photo centers. The per-print cost is often low (starting at about nine cents a photo); uploading from home is remarkably easy; and you can pick up the pictures in the store, eliminating any expensive shipping costs. Sign up for your store's e-mail newsletter, and you'll receive coupons and special offers, such as free prints for new customers or free enlargements.
12. Look for "grab bag" specials on brand-name bathing suits for your kids. The retailer picks out the color and style; you reap savings of 50 percent or more. Swimoutlet.com offers great service and selection. The Speedo Website (speedousa.com) has good grab bag savings, too; recently a $36 girl's Splice Tankini was on sale for $21.60.
13. Sign up for free samples of health and beauty products online. You can order them at sites such as freeflys.com, mysavings.com, startsampling.com, and Wal-Mart's instoresnow.walmart.com. You may need to answer a few questions, but you generally won't have to pay for shipping. And at these sites, you won't be put on spam lists.
Family Fun
14. Zap exorbitant vacation costs by swapping homes with another family. It's not too late in the season to make a trade. Home-exchange networks charge $65 to $229 for listing your home in an online directory. You'll find huge selections in the United States and abroad on intervac.com, homelink.org, homeexchange.com, and Vacation Rentals By Owner (vrbo.com). The Intervac site refunds its $95 annual membership fee if you don't get an exchange arranged within a year of signing up. Only In America Home Exchange (exchangehomesoia.com) is exactly what it sounds like and has no membership fee. Also free: asking friends or friends of friends if they're interested in a vacation switcheroo. You might even be able to swap automobiles and save yourself the cost of a car rental.
15. Try an urban vacation. Maybe Chicago or Philadelphia aren't the first places that come to mind when you think of a summer trip. But consider this: While prices at the beach and resorts spike in summer, business travel slumps — so many big-city tourist bureaus offer bargains, especially on weekends. Subway passes make transportation inexpensive and easy. And 11 metropolises (including New York City and Seattle) have passes that will admit you to attractions at up to 50 percent off the full-price ticket (cost: $34 to $247; citypass.com).
16. Buy an Entertainment Book of discount coupons; 150 areas have them (entertainment.com). In early summer, these guides sell for their lowest price of the year (about $10 per book). You can buy a book for the city you're visiting to receive "buy one, get one free" coupons for restaurants, museums, and other attractions. Once you register at the site, you can get 50 percent off hotels, discounts on rental cars, a 5 percent coupon for American Airlines, and rebates. You can also print out coupons for attractions in other cities.
17. Check out the popular travel-destination Websites like frommers.com and fodors.com for excellent insider tips on how to get discounted rates at popular attractions or to find out about free events. For example, entering San Diego at the Frommer's site and selecting "Free Attractions" recently turned up several museums with free admission one Tuesday per month.
18. Hire a personal camp counselor. Join forces with a few other local families and pay a responsible high school student or two to care for all your children during the day. The kids will enjoy many of the same types of activities as at a local day camp — tennis, hiking, swimming, crafts — at less than half the cost.
Flights and Hotels
19. Register with "fare watcher" services at the major travel search engines, like expedia.com and travelocity.com. You'll be alerted when the price drops for the ticket you want. Most sites let you select a flexible-date option to help find the lowest prices for flights.
20. Look for weekend Web deals on airlines' sites to take advantage of rock-bottom last-minute fares. Yapta.com may even get you money back if a fare has dropped since you bought the ticket.
21. Get indirect savings on travel spending. The Website upromise.com lets you earn free money in a college-savings account by booking travel. You can also earn 1 to 8 percent of your spending on hotels, car rentals, airlines, restaurants, and vacation packages.
22. Score a deal on the price of airport parking at the site longtermparking.com. You may snag a coupon to cut your cost in half.
23. When booking a hotel room, don't forget to ask about any freebies. Breakfast, parking, Internet access, or airport shuttle service included in the price of lodging can mean big savings for families.
24. Try using bidding sites such as biddingfortravel.com to stay for the lowest price.
25. Save on hotel parking charges by checking nearby parking-garage options ahead of time. You could avoid paying $25 or so per day for valet parking just by using the garage across the street.
Winning stocks in a losing decade
In case you haven't heard, the Dow closed Monday at its lowest level since April 1997.
It's tempting to take that news and go cry in your beer (if not something stronger). But looking at the Dow -- or even the broader S&P 500, which closed at its lowest point since October 1996 Monday -- hardly tells the whole story about how the market has done in the past decade.
Yes, if you had the misfortune of investing in an index fund, more than a decade's worth of investments have been wiped out. But the myopic focus on just how market indexes have done does some a disservice.
That's because even in a brutal bear market such as this, some investors have been able to make money by buying strong companies -- firms that have not made stupid mistakes and now expect a government handout to make them all go away.
In fact, shares of more than 200 companies in the S&P 500 are up during the past 10 years through Monday's close -- a time when the overall S&P 500 has plummeted more than 40%
Talkback: What stocks do you think will be winners over the next decade?And some of these companies are large, widely held firms with staggering returns. Shares of auto parts retailer AutoZone (AZO, Fortune 500), which posted a better-than-expected fiscal second-quarter profit Tuesday despite the many problems facing the automotive industry, are up 300% in the past decade.
Shares of wireless chipset maker Qualcomm (QCOM, Fortune 500) are up more than 600% in the past ten years while shares of Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) have skyrocketed more than 900%. And biotech Gilead Sciences (GILD), the market leader in developing drugs to combat the HIV virus, has soared more than 1,600%.
Money managers who have been able to largely escape the carnage said that the key to investing in either a bull or bear market is to stick with top-notch companies with healthy balance sheets. After all, the binge on credit at both the consumer and corporate level is a leading cause of this downturn.
"It's been a challenging time. But our focus on quality has always been there -- companies that have very little debt, produce a lot of cash, have a competitive advantage and high profit margins," said Kent Gasaway, co-manager of the Buffalo Small Cap fund, a fund that has a ten-year annualized return of 10.2%, according to fund tracker Morningstar.
Gasaway said another way his fund has held up better than peers during the recent recession is by investing in so-called countercyclical companies, firms that actually do reasonably well in a downturn.
Along those lines, three of the fund's top ten holdings are in private education companies, which have benefited from higher enrollment in what has been a poor job market. The fund's top two holdings are Corinthian Colleges (COCO) and ITT Educational Services (ESI). The fund also owns DeVry (DV).
Rick Aster, portfolio manager with the Meridian Value fund, which has an annualized return of 8.1% over the past ten years, also said he's stayed away from companies with questionable fundamentals.
"We don't invest in bubbles or companies really doing well that everybody likes," said Aster. "We steered clear of housing stocks and financials for the most part."
Instead, Aster said a key to his fund's solid track record is looking for companies in turnaround situations, stocks that may have been beaten up but have the right strategies in place to rebound. That strategy has served him well with some long-time holdings in the healthcare sector, such as drug maker Abbott Laboratories.
More recently, Aster said he and his team have picked up shares of children's clothing retailer Carter's (CRI), which stumbled after buying rival OshKosh B'Gosh in 2005 but has bounced back recently thanks to healthy sales growth.
Aster even said there is one financial firm he's willing to take a gamble on: JPMorgan Chase (JPM, Fortune 500).
"Banks have been killed but we believe at this point that JPMorgan Chase has the best opportunity to continue to take market share since it is in the strongest financial condition," he said.
Now I don't think people should mistake these money managers' long-term bullish tone as a sign that they, or I for that matter, think the market has finally bottomed. I have unfortunately called a couple of false bottoms in the past year, as have many investing professionals. Trying to predict the short term is a recipe for failure and I'm giving up attempting to do so.
And it's understandable that a lot of average investors have good reason to be wary of stocks and Wall Street right now. Many banks have betrayed the public trust. The Bernie Madoff and R. Allen Stanford scandals are reminders of what can happen when greed goes unchecked and regulators look the other way in a bull market.
But the entire stock market is not one big Ponzi scheme. The best way to achieve solid long-term financial returns historically has been through investing in leading companies, not sticking your money in gold, Treasury bonds or your mattress.
"If you are young, this feels terrible, but it's the best thing to happen to you since there are bargains all over the place," said Gasaway. "We're buying companies we've never owned before that we always coveted but used to be too expensive."
It's tempting to take that news and go cry in your beer (if not something stronger). But looking at the Dow -- or even the broader S&P 500, which closed at its lowest point since October 1996 Monday -- hardly tells the whole story about how the market has done in the past decade.
Yes, if you had the misfortune of investing in an index fund, more than a decade's worth of investments have been wiped out. But the myopic focus on just how market indexes have done does some a disservice.
That's because even in a brutal bear market such as this, some investors have been able to make money by buying strong companies -- firms that have not made stupid mistakes and now expect a government handout to make them all go away.
In fact, shares of more than 200 companies in the S&P 500 are up during the past 10 years through Monday's close -- a time when the overall S&P 500 has plummeted more than 40%
Talkback: What stocks do you think will be winners over the next decade?And some of these companies are large, widely held firms with staggering returns. Shares of auto parts retailer AutoZone (AZO, Fortune 500), which posted a better-than-expected fiscal second-quarter profit Tuesday despite the many problems facing the automotive industry, are up 300% in the past decade.
Shares of wireless chipset maker Qualcomm (QCOM, Fortune 500) are up more than 600% in the past ten years while shares of Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) have skyrocketed more than 900%. And biotech Gilead Sciences (GILD), the market leader in developing drugs to combat the HIV virus, has soared more than 1,600%.
Money managers who have been able to largely escape the carnage said that the key to investing in either a bull or bear market is to stick with top-notch companies with healthy balance sheets. After all, the binge on credit at both the consumer and corporate level is a leading cause of this downturn.
"It's been a challenging time. But our focus on quality has always been there -- companies that have very little debt, produce a lot of cash, have a competitive advantage and high profit margins," said Kent Gasaway, co-manager of the Buffalo Small Cap fund, a fund that has a ten-year annualized return of 10.2%, according to fund tracker Morningstar.
Gasaway said another way his fund has held up better than peers during the recent recession is by investing in so-called countercyclical companies, firms that actually do reasonably well in a downturn.
Along those lines, three of the fund's top ten holdings are in private education companies, which have benefited from higher enrollment in what has been a poor job market. The fund's top two holdings are Corinthian Colleges (COCO) and ITT Educational Services (ESI). The fund also owns DeVry (DV).
Rick Aster, portfolio manager with the Meridian Value fund, which has an annualized return of 8.1% over the past ten years, also said he's stayed away from companies with questionable fundamentals.
"We don't invest in bubbles or companies really doing well that everybody likes," said Aster. "We steered clear of housing stocks and financials for the most part."
Instead, Aster said a key to his fund's solid track record is looking for companies in turnaround situations, stocks that may have been beaten up but have the right strategies in place to rebound. That strategy has served him well with some long-time holdings in the healthcare sector, such as drug maker Abbott Laboratories.
More recently, Aster said he and his team have picked up shares of children's clothing retailer Carter's (CRI), which stumbled after buying rival OshKosh B'Gosh in 2005 but has bounced back recently thanks to healthy sales growth.
Aster even said there is one financial firm he's willing to take a gamble on: JPMorgan Chase (JPM, Fortune 500).
"Banks have been killed but we believe at this point that JPMorgan Chase has the best opportunity to continue to take market share since it is in the strongest financial condition," he said.
Now I don't think people should mistake these money managers' long-term bullish tone as a sign that they, or I for that matter, think the market has finally bottomed. I have unfortunately called a couple of false bottoms in the past year, as have many investing professionals. Trying to predict the short term is a recipe for failure and I'm giving up attempting to do so.
And it's understandable that a lot of average investors have good reason to be wary of stocks and Wall Street right now. Many banks have betrayed the public trust. The Bernie Madoff and R. Allen Stanford scandals are reminders of what can happen when greed goes unchecked and regulators look the other way in a bull market.
But the entire stock market is not one big Ponzi scheme. The best way to achieve solid long-term financial returns historically has been through investing in leading companies, not sticking your money in gold, Treasury bonds or your mattress.
"If you are young, this feels terrible, but it's the best thing to happen to you since there are bargains all over the place," said Gasaway. "We're buying companies we've never owned before that we always coveted but used to be too expensive."
Top 10 Tips for Saving on Airfares in 2009
No one really knows where airfares are headed this year (beware anyone who claims they do; they're probably just trying to grab headlines). But here are 10 tips that will point you in the right direction next time you're looking for an airfare bargain.
1. Look for promo codes.
Airlines are increasingly resorting to promotion codes in order to bypass online travel agencies and meta search engines, driving traffic to their own sites, which are, after all, valuable properties selling everything from credit cards to hotel rooms. (Of course, this strategy also eliminates the need to pay commissions to other sites, but Airfarewatchdog suspects that this is only part of the story.) Discounts range from $10 to 50% off published fares. Southwest, American, Allegiant, Spirit, Air Canada, JetBlue, Virgin America and others used this strategy in 2008 and we expect to see more of this in 2009. To get the codes, sign up for the airlines' frequent flyer programs and emailed newsletters. These fares are never listed on Travelocity, Kayak, etc. (Airfarewatchdog lists promo codes in its blog postings as soon as they become available.)
2. Surprising sales sometimes appear on Saturdays and holiday weekends.
There is no one best day of the week or time of day to buy airfares. The best time is when the fare on the route and travel period you prefer (or are willing to travel), on an airline you like (or don't hate at least), goes down to its recent low point. That could be any minute of any day.
However, over 2009's MLK 3 day weekend, US Air launched an unadvertised sale to Europe for May, June, August, and September travel with fares up to 60% off the previous prices. This is not the first time we've seen a Saturday morning fare massacre and while it may not happen very often, for various competitive reasons, airlines sneak in the very best unadvertised sales when they think the competition is watching the big game or taking the kids to the movies rather than monitoring what other airlines are charging (Saturdays, and holiday weekends are an obvious choice).
3. Search for fares throughout the day, several times a day.
No one can precisely predict where airfares are heading (airfare pundits who claim to have a crystal ball should go play the oil futures market and make some real money instead of trying to get their mugs on the TV). Fares go up and go down throughout the day like the stock market, so if you don't like what you see at 10 AM, come back a couple of hours later and search again. Just as important as the fare, seat availability can change throughout the day. Airlines adjust the number of seats available at different fare levels, so even if the fare hasn't changed, the availability of seats at that fare may fluctuate, so you'll see a $120 fare to where you're going one minute, but the next it's twice that. Obviously, seats at the lowest fares sell quickly and in 2009 airlines will offer fewer seats at their lowest fares. If you see something good, grab it.
4. Use flexible date searches.
Adjusting your dates of travel by just a day or two can save hundreds, especially if you're buying for more than one person. This is one area where online travel agencies such as Orbitz, Cheapair, Cheaptickets, Hotwire, and Travelocity shine and often have an advantage over most airline sites and meta search engines. Travelocity will show you the lowest published fare (irrespective of seat availability) over a 330 day period on all domestic fares (except those on Southwest, Allegiant and a few niche carriers) and on major international routes; Orbitz and Cheaptickets do the same over a 30 day period of your choosing (on nearly all domestic and international routes, and they do a better job of assuring seat availability than Travelocity does). Look for the "flexible travel" box or "Find low fares for flexible trips" link on these sites and follow the instructions. In 2009, we predict that more airlines will offer some kind of flexible date search tool; last year, several added or improved this useful device.
5. Use Priceline, especially if you don't have a sufficient advance purchase window.
The cheapest fares often require a 7, 14, 21, or even a 28-day advance purchase. What if you need to leave tomorrow or on short notice? That's where Priceline's "Name your own price" bidding process can help. Typically, savings reach 40-60%, sometimes more. The site has added a page showing a daily list of discounts on the top 50 routes, revealing how much other users have saved by bidding on fares. Click on the route and you'll see actual bids vs. the lowest retail price
6. Sign up for fare alert services, but don't blindly rely on ones that monitor price only without considering seasonality.
Fare alert services (such as those offered by Farecompare, Yapta, Farecast, Travelocity, Kayak, Orbitz, Priceline and Airfarewatchdog [airfarewatchdog.com]) are valuable tools. Each offers its own advantages and limitations. But many of them alert consumers based on price only. So if the lowest possible fare between New York and London on a Friday is $600 RT but only for winter travel, and on Saturday the lowest fare remains at $600 but travel is valid for travel all summer at that fare, you will not necessarily receive an alert about this "higher value" fare in your email. Same goes for nonstop flights: many consumers prefer to fly non stop and justly believe that a $200 connecting fare is not the same as $ 200 nonstop, so choose an alert service that allows you to specify nonstops only or alerts you upfront that the flight is nonstop.
7. Search Southwest and Allegiant separately.
These low cost leaders do not share their lowest fares with third party web sites, such as online travel agencies or meta search engines. (They're also frequent issuers of promo codes, which are redeemable only on their sites.) Southwest doesn't always have the lowest price, but in many markets they're the only airline flying a route nonstop, even if just once a day. Plus, they have the lowest extra fees (see tip 10).
8. Use consolidators for international business and first class fares.
Especially with the economic downturn, business and first class cabins will be emptier in 2009, and deals will be amazing. Consolidators specializing in premium cabins will have some great deals, and the airlines themselves will be heavily discounting their premium cabins, so check the specials on their web sites. Do a google search for "first class consolidators" to see some of the firms in this space.
9. Check the airlines' sites directly.
We're not talking here merely about saving the $7 or $10 booking fee you might be charged on an Orbitz or Travelocity. Several international airlines regularly offer significant savings on various routes, but only if you buy from their sites. Among these are Aer Lingus, China Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Air Tahiti Nui, and Air Canada. Savings can be as high as $200 roundtrip.
10. Consider the extra fees before you buy.
If Southwest has a fare of $198 round-trip and United has one for $148, and you are checking three bags, then Southwest actually has the lowest fare because Southwest charges nothing for the first two checked bags, whereas United would charge you an additional $165 each way for three.
1. Look for promo codes.
Airlines are increasingly resorting to promotion codes in order to bypass online travel agencies and meta search engines, driving traffic to their own sites, which are, after all, valuable properties selling everything from credit cards to hotel rooms. (Of course, this strategy also eliminates the need to pay commissions to other sites, but Airfarewatchdog suspects that this is only part of the story.) Discounts range from $10 to 50% off published fares. Southwest, American, Allegiant, Spirit, Air Canada, JetBlue, Virgin America and others used this strategy in 2008 and we expect to see more of this in 2009. To get the codes, sign up for the airlines' frequent flyer programs and emailed newsletters. These fares are never listed on Travelocity, Kayak, etc. (Airfarewatchdog lists promo codes in its blog postings as soon as they become available.)
2. Surprising sales sometimes appear on Saturdays and holiday weekends.
There is no one best day of the week or time of day to buy airfares. The best time is when the fare on the route and travel period you prefer (or are willing to travel), on an airline you like (or don't hate at least), goes down to its recent low point. That could be any minute of any day.
However, over 2009's MLK 3 day weekend, US Air launched an unadvertised sale to Europe for May, June, August, and September travel with fares up to 60% off the previous prices. This is not the first time we've seen a Saturday morning fare massacre and while it may not happen very often, for various competitive reasons, airlines sneak in the very best unadvertised sales when they think the competition is watching the big game or taking the kids to the movies rather than monitoring what other airlines are charging (Saturdays, and holiday weekends are an obvious choice).
3. Search for fares throughout the day, several times a day.
No one can precisely predict where airfares are heading (airfare pundits who claim to have a crystal ball should go play the oil futures market and make some real money instead of trying to get their mugs on the TV). Fares go up and go down throughout the day like the stock market, so if you don't like what you see at 10 AM, come back a couple of hours later and search again. Just as important as the fare, seat availability can change throughout the day. Airlines adjust the number of seats available at different fare levels, so even if the fare hasn't changed, the availability of seats at that fare may fluctuate, so you'll see a $120 fare to where you're going one minute, but the next it's twice that. Obviously, seats at the lowest fares sell quickly and in 2009 airlines will offer fewer seats at their lowest fares. If you see something good, grab it.
4. Use flexible date searches.
Adjusting your dates of travel by just a day or two can save hundreds, especially if you're buying for more than one person. This is one area where online travel agencies such as Orbitz, Cheapair, Cheaptickets, Hotwire, and Travelocity shine and often have an advantage over most airline sites and meta search engines. Travelocity will show you the lowest published fare (irrespective of seat availability) over a 330 day period on all domestic fares (except those on Southwest, Allegiant and a few niche carriers) and on major international routes; Orbitz and Cheaptickets do the same over a 30 day period of your choosing (on nearly all domestic and international routes, and they do a better job of assuring seat availability than Travelocity does). Look for the "flexible travel" box or "Find low fares for flexible trips" link on these sites and follow the instructions. In 2009, we predict that more airlines will offer some kind of flexible date search tool; last year, several added or improved this useful device.
5. Use Priceline, especially if you don't have a sufficient advance purchase window.
The cheapest fares often require a 7, 14, 21, or even a 28-day advance purchase. What if you need to leave tomorrow or on short notice? That's where Priceline's "Name your own price" bidding process can help. Typically, savings reach 40-60%, sometimes more. The site has added a page showing a daily list of discounts on the top 50 routes, revealing how much other users have saved by bidding on fares. Click on the route and you'll see actual bids vs. the lowest retail price
6. Sign up for fare alert services, but don't blindly rely on ones that monitor price only without considering seasonality.
Fare alert services (such as those offered by Farecompare, Yapta, Farecast, Travelocity, Kayak, Orbitz, Priceline and Airfarewatchdog [airfarewatchdog.com]) are valuable tools. Each offers its own advantages and limitations. But many of them alert consumers based on price only. So if the lowest possible fare between New York and London on a Friday is $600 RT but only for winter travel, and on Saturday the lowest fare remains at $600 but travel is valid for travel all summer at that fare, you will not necessarily receive an alert about this "higher value" fare in your email. Same goes for nonstop flights: many consumers prefer to fly non stop and justly believe that a $200 connecting fare is not the same as $ 200 nonstop, so choose an alert service that allows you to specify nonstops only or alerts you upfront that the flight is nonstop.
7. Search Southwest and Allegiant separately.
These low cost leaders do not share their lowest fares with third party web sites, such as online travel agencies or meta search engines. (They're also frequent issuers of promo codes, which are redeemable only on their sites.) Southwest doesn't always have the lowest price, but in many markets they're the only airline flying a route nonstop, even if just once a day. Plus, they have the lowest extra fees (see tip 10).
8. Use consolidators for international business and first class fares.
Especially with the economic downturn, business and first class cabins will be emptier in 2009, and deals will be amazing. Consolidators specializing in premium cabins will have some great deals, and the airlines themselves will be heavily discounting their premium cabins, so check the specials on their web sites. Do a google search for "first class consolidators" to see some of the firms in this space.
9. Check the airlines' sites directly.
We're not talking here merely about saving the $7 or $10 booking fee you might be charged on an Orbitz or Travelocity. Several international airlines regularly offer significant savings on various routes, but only if you buy from their sites. Among these are Aer Lingus, China Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Air Tahiti Nui, and Air Canada. Savings can be as high as $200 roundtrip.
10. Consider the extra fees before you buy.
If Southwest has a fare of $198 round-trip and United has one for $148, and you are checking three bags, then Southwest actually has the lowest fare because Southwest charges nothing for the first two checked bags, whereas United would charge you an additional $165 each way for three.
When economy bottoms out, how will we know?
When will this wretched economy bottom out? The recession is already in its 15th month, making it longer than all but two downturns since World War II. For now, everything seems to be getting worse: The Dow is in free fall, jobs are vanishing every day, and one in eight American homeowners is in foreclosure or behind on payments.
But the economy always recovers. It runs in cycles, and economists are watching an array of statistics, some of them buried deep beneath the headlines, to spot the turning point. The Associated Press examined three markets — housing, jobs and stocks — and asked experts where things stand and how to know when they've hit bottom.
None of them expects it to come anytime soon.
---JOBS
HOW BAD IS IT?: The U.S. unemployment rate hit 8.1 percent in February, a 25-year peak. The nation has lost 4.4 million jobs since the recession began in late 2007.
The job cuts began early last year, as the housing and construction industries slowed down. The collapse of the financial industry in the fall battered white-collar workers. Soon, layoffs spread across industries and income levels.
HOW MUCH WORSE COULD IT GET? The darkest days for the job market are almost certainly still ahead. With spending weak and credit markets stalled, experts think the economy will probably shed a total of 2.4 million jobs this year. That would mean an unemployment rate above 9 percent.
That would easily surpass the 2001 and 1990-91 recessions but trail the 10.8 percent rate of December 1982. Those expectations could be optimistic: The government's "stress tests" to check the strength of banks' balance sheets assume a 10.3 percent rate.
The job market will probably be weak for years, even if the economy starts to turn around next year. The unemployment rate may not fall back to its pre-recession level of 5 percent until 2013, according to Moody's Economy.com.
WHERE'S THE BOTTOM?: Economist Sophia Koropeckyj, a managing director at Moody's Economy.com, is keeping an eye out for two signs — an inching up in companies hiring temporary workers and a rise in the number of hours worked by those who have managed to keep their part-time and full-time jobs.
When business conditions improve, employers hire temporary workers first, she said, and a pickup in permanent hiring wouldn't be far behind. Koropeckyj estimated that could come in mid-2010.
---HOUSING
HOW BAD IS IT?: The median price of a home sold in the United States fell to $170,300 in January, down 26 percent from a year and a half earlier, according to the National Association of Realtors.
But that figure masks the complexity of the market. Price drops have been far steeper around Phoenix and Las Vegas, where new homes sprouted everywhere during the housing boom, than, say, in Detroit, where economic problems predate the recession.
And even within a single metro area, price declines vary sharply. Faraway suburbs, where many buyers stretched to qualify for mortgages, have been hit harder than city centers.
This housing crash has spread pain more widely than any before it. Home prices fell about 30 percent during the Great Depression, according to calculations by Yale University economist Robert Shiller. But the nation was less concentrated in urban centers then. And a much smaller proportion of adults owned homes.
Other housing downturns in recent decades have been regional. This one is truly national. Prices in the fourth quarter of 2008 fell in nearly 90 percent of the top 150 metro areas, according to the Realtors group. And 5.4 million homeowners, about 12 percent, were in foreclosure or behind on mortgage payments at the end of last year.
HOW MUCH WORSE COULD IT GET?: The Federal Reserve estimates home prices could fall 18 to 29 percent more by the end of 2010. Declines will probably be less severe in cities with healthier economies that don't have a glut of unsold homes, like Tulsa, Okla., and Wichita, Kan.
The nation's overall economic health is vital to the health of housing. "History tells us that as long as we're losing jobs, that's not good news for the housing market," said Nicolas Retsinas, director of Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies.
WHERE'S THE BOTTOM?: Susan Wachter, a professor of real estate at the University of Pennsylvania, is watching the backlog of unsold homes. At January's sales pace, it would take about 9 1/2 months to rid the market of all those properties. A more normal pace would be six months.
Once foreclosures level off and the backlog is cleared, Wachter says, the housing market can begin to recover. But even with the Obama administration directing $75 billion in bailout money to stave off foreclosures, most economists don't expect home prices to bottom out before the first quarter of 2010. And don't expect an explosive rebound: Price increases will probably be modest when they come.
---STOCKS
HOW BAD IS IT?: The Dow Jones industrial average and the Standard & Poor's 500 index have lost more than half their value since the stock market peaked in October 2007. It's the worst bear market since the aftermath of the crash of 1929, when the Dow plunged 89 percent and the S&P 500 index tumbled 86 percent.
HOW MUCH WORSE COULD IT GET? Analysts generally think Wall Street has endured the worst of the bear market. But many of those same analysts never thought the market would fall this far.
Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Harris Private Bank in Chicago, said the Dow could fall to 6,000 if the economy slows much further and unemployment rises well past the current 8.1 percent. He pegs the likelihood of that at about 30 percent. Others are more pessimistic. Bill Strazzullo, chief market strategist for Bell Curve Trading, contends the Dow might fall to 5,000 and the S&P to 500.
WHEN WILL THE BOTTOM COME?: In downturns over the past 60 years, the S&P 500 has hit bottom an average of four months before a recession ended and about nine months before unemployment hit its peak.
Investors will be looking for turnarounds in housing, lending and employment, plus signs that consumer spending has picked up. Then market players would be more likely to move their money from safe havens, such as gold, back into stocks.
Other investors may look to obscure indicators such as the Baltic Dry Index, which tracks the cost of shipping iron ore, grain and other materials. Rising rates can indicate demand for raw materials is increasing, which suggests a strengthening economy.
But most of all, traders are waiting for a sudden spasm of selling known as capitulation. That wrings fearful investors out of the market, and as they rush out, bargain-hunters rush in. Capitulation would trigger a huge plunge in prices and frenzied trading volume.
Many market experts say the bottom of the stock market could come in the second or third quarter of this year. And the recovery, whenever it comes, could be as breathtaking as the fall: Since 1932, the S&P 500 has gained an average of 46 percent in the year after stocks have hit a bottom.
But the economy always recovers. It runs in cycles, and economists are watching an array of statistics, some of them buried deep beneath the headlines, to spot the turning point. The Associated Press examined three markets — housing, jobs and stocks — and asked experts where things stand and how to know when they've hit bottom.
None of them expects it to come anytime soon.
---JOBS
HOW BAD IS IT?: The U.S. unemployment rate hit 8.1 percent in February, a 25-year peak. The nation has lost 4.4 million jobs since the recession began in late 2007.
The job cuts began early last year, as the housing and construction industries slowed down. The collapse of the financial industry in the fall battered white-collar workers. Soon, layoffs spread across industries and income levels.
HOW MUCH WORSE COULD IT GET? The darkest days for the job market are almost certainly still ahead. With spending weak and credit markets stalled, experts think the economy will probably shed a total of 2.4 million jobs this year. That would mean an unemployment rate above 9 percent.
That would easily surpass the 2001 and 1990-91 recessions but trail the 10.8 percent rate of December 1982. Those expectations could be optimistic: The government's "stress tests" to check the strength of banks' balance sheets assume a 10.3 percent rate.
The job market will probably be weak for years, even if the economy starts to turn around next year. The unemployment rate may not fall back to its pre-recession level of 5 percent until 2013, according to Moody's Economy.com.
WHERE'S THE BOTTOM?: Economist Sophia Koropeckyj, a managing director at Moody's Economy.com, is keeping an eye out for two signs — an inching up in companies hiring temporary workers and a rise in the number of hours worked by those who have managed to keep their part-time and full-time jobs.
When business conditions improve, employers hire temporary workers first, she said, and a pickup in permanent hiring wouldn't be far behind. Koropeckyj estimated that could come in mid-2010.
---HOUSING
HOW BAD IS IT?: The median price of a home sold in the United States fell to $170,300 in January, down 26 percent from a year and a half earlier, according to the National Association of Realtors.
But that figure masks the complexity of the market. Price drops have been far steeper around Phoenix and Las Vegas, where new homes sprouted everywhere during the housing boom, than, say, in Detroit, where economic problems predate the recession.
And even within a single metro area, price declines vary sharply. Faraway suburbs, where many buyers stretched to qualify for mortgages, have been hit harder than city centers.
This housing crash has spread pain more widely than any before it. Home prices fell about 30 percent during the Great Depression, according to calculations by Yale University economist Robert Shiller. But the nation was less concentrated in urban centers then. And a much smaller proportion of adults owned homes.
Other housing downturns in recent decades have been regional. This one is truly national. Prices in the fourth quarter of 2008 fell in nearly 90 percent of the top 150 metro areas, according to the Realtors group. And 5.4 million homeowners, about 12 percent, were in foreclosure or behind on mortgage payments at the end of last year.
HOW MUCH WORSE COULD IT GET?: The Federal Reserve estimates home prices could fall 18 to 29 percent more by the end of 2010. Declines will probably be less severe in cities with healthier economies that don't have a glut of unsold homes, like Tulsa, Okla., and Wichita, Kan.
The nation's overall economic health is vital to the health of housing. "History tells us that as long as we're losing jobs, that's not good news for the housing market," said Nicolas Retsinas, director of Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies.
WHERE'S THE BOTTOM?: Susan Wachter, a professor of real estate at the University of Pennsylvania, is watching the backlog of unsold homes. At January's sales pace, it would take about 9 1/2 months to rid the market of all those properties. A more normal pace would be six months.
Once foreclosures level off and the backlog is cleared, Wachter says, the housing market can begin to recover. But even with the Obama administration directing $75 billion in bailout money to stave off foreclosures, most economists don't expect home prices to bottom out before the first quarter of 2010. And don't expect an explosive rebound: Price increases will probably be modest when they come.
---STOCKS
HOW BAD IS IT?: The Dow Jones industrial average and the Standard & Poor's 500 index have lost more than half their value since the stock market peaked in October 2007. It's the worst bear market since the aftermath of the crash of 1929, when the Dow plunged 89 percent and the S&P 500 index tumbled 86 percent.
HOW MUCH WORSE COULD IT GET? Analysts generally think Wall Street has endured the worst of the bear market. But many of those same analysts never thought the market would fall this far.
Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Harris Private Bank in Chicago, said the Dow could fall to 6,000 if the economy slows much further and unemployment rises well past the current 8.1 percent. He pegs the likelihood of that at about 30 percent. Others are more pessimistic. Bill Strazzullo, chief market strategist for Bell Curve Trading, contends the Dow might fall to 5,000 and the S&P to 500.
WHEN WILL THE BOTTOM COME?: In downturns over the past 60 years, the S&P 500 has hit bottom an average of four months before a recession ended and about nine months before unemployment hit its peak.
Investors will be looking for turnarounds in housing, lending and employment, plus signs that consumer spending has picked up. Then market players would be more likely to move their money from safe havens, such as gold, back into stocks.
Other investors may look to obscure indicators such as the Baltic Dry Index, which tracks the cost of shipping iron ore, grain and other materials. Rising rates can indicate demand for raw materials is increasing, which suggests a strengthening economy.
But most of all, traders are waiting for a sudden spasm of selling known as capitulation. That wrings fearful investors out of the market, and as they rush out, bargain-hunters rush in. Capitulation would trigger a huge plunge in prices and frenzied trading volume.
Many market experts say the bottom of the stock market could come in the second or third quarter of this year. And the recovery, whenever it comes, could be as breathtaking as the fall: Since 1932, the S&P 500 has gained an average of 46 percent in the year after stocks have hit a bottom.
Top 5 Business Survival Tips to Survive a Bad Economy
Is the economy bad? It's really a problem especially if you have a business and that business is just about to bloom. Here are five sure-fire ways to help your business in surviving a bad economy.
1. Back to basics. Try and look into the daily operational expenses of your company and segregate the things that are essential from the things that are for convenience. Most of the time convenience is partnered with price. And when you're talking about a business that price is not cheap. So let go of the bottled water let people drink from the tap. Use recycled toilet paper and don't forget to install waterless urinals.
2. Necessity above all else. Always put your utilities and operational must haves above all else. Electricity, water, phone and mobile phone bills must be on top of all the needs that you have. Since you have already put aside the non-essentials from your budget it will be easier to put into a budget the things that you need to actually think about.
3. Buy your debts more time. It sounds bad but you really have to make good on this one. Once you feel that your cash flow is crunching call the people you owe and ask if it's possible to ask for an extension on your deadline. Swallow your pride a little and suck up a little of your courage to make sure that your message comes across to the people you owe.
4. Embrace the 80/20. Try and remember that 80% of your business is made up of your top 20% customers. It may look unfair but these are the customers you have got to take care of, spend more time with these customers and make sure that you have their business. Customer loyalty especially during an economic downturn tends to sway to the better business so make sure that your business is on top of its game.
5. Let the people know you're there. It may be a bad time to put your money on advertising but it's a god backup plan in case your sales are on the low. Make sure people remember you and your company. Don't let people forget about.
It's important to know how to manage your business during a crisis, the more you invest on crisis management early the less you have to spend on damage control in the latter parts. Financial downturns are not permanent and it can be waited, surviving a bad economy is important above all.
1. Back to basics. Try and look into the daily operational expenses of your company and segregate the things that are essential from the things that are for convenience. Most of the time convenience is partnered with price. And when you're talking about a business that price is not cheap. So let go of the bottled water let people drink from the tap. Use recycled toilet paper and don't forget to install waterless urinals.
2. Necessity above all else. Always put your utilities and operational must haves above all else. Electricity, water, phone and mobile phone bills must be on top of all the needs that you have. Since you have already put aside the non-essentials from your budget it will be easier to put into a budget the things that you need to actually think about.
3. Buy your debts more time. It sounds bad but you really have to make good on this one. Once you feel that your cash flow is crunching call the people you owe and ask if it's possible to ask for an extension on your deadline. Swallow your pride a little and suck up a little of your courage to make sure that your message comes across to the people you owe.
4. Embrace the 80/20. Try and remember that 80% of your business is made up of your top 20% customers. It may look unfair but these are the customers you have got to take care of, spend more time with these customers and make sure that you have their business. Customer loyalty especially during an economic downturn tends to sway to the better business so make sure that your business is on top of its game.
5. Let the people know you're there. It may be a bad time to put your money on advertising but it's a god backup plan in case your sales are on the low. Make sure people remember you and your company. Don't let people forget about.
It's important to know how to manage your business during a crisis, the more you invest on crisis management early the less you have to spend on damage control in the latter parts. Financial downturns are not permanent and it can be waited, surviving a bad economy is important above all.
When Your Past Year Taxes Catch Up With You
It's the moment you've been dreading: you missed filing your taxes one year -- maybe you didn't have the money, maybe you didn't have the proper documents, maybe you just ran out of time -- and now the IRS is after you. When you miss filing, they aren't happy. They demand full payment of your past year taxes, plus fees and fines, and the whole sum accumulates interest at an alarming clip. You might be tempted to panic, but there's a better way.
First of all, remember that the IRS only tries to scare people when they can be scared into cooperating. When trying to collect on past year taxes, the IRS can spend a lot of money following leads, investigating records, and chasing people down. Or they can convince people to pay their past year taxes voluntarily. Usually, the latter course is a better one for everyone involved; you get to stop worrying about the huge and growing tax debt, and the IRS gets their money witha lot less hassle.
What does the IRS do when you get in touch with them? The first change they make is to the interest rates you're charged. Instead of paying 1% per month, your rates go down to .25% per month. In other words, they go from more than you'd pay on a large personal loan to less than you'd pay on your mortgage. That alone is a good reason to deal with your past year taxes, but the IRS offers something else, too. While you're not paying, they will occasionally tack on fees related to the delinquency. Those fees add up over time -- until you agree to pay, at which point they stop.
Agreeing to pay your past year taxes doesn't mean having to pay in a lump sum. The IRS often agrees to let you pay your past year taxes over a period of months, giving you a chance to catch your breath financially and get ready to pay the full amount. While it can be intimidating to have to pay up even over a few months, the IRS is generally not a creditor you want to have.
Paying your past year taxes with another form of debt, while not a good long-term strategy, is at least a viable stopgap. For example, if you can borrow money at less than 12% per year, you'll save on the final amount by borrowing the money, paying the IRS, and then paying back the loan at less than the IRS rate.
The closer you get to a complicated financial transaction, the more likely it is that you'll want professional tax and accounting help. Your past year taxes started out as a simple problem (filing a form with a single government agency, writing a check -- or, more likely than you'd think, getting one), but has mushroomed into something larger. Adding more layers to the transaction can make your problems accumulate faster, too.
Overall, past year taxes are a solvable problem. They're just a problem that demands careful attention and a little information. If you're worried about your past year taxes, keep two things in mind: first, they compound when you don't deal with them. That interest is accumulating even when you're not paying attention, and those fines add up. But second, once you do start to solve things, your situation gets simpler, fast.
First of all, remember that the IRS only tries to scare people when they can be scared into cooperating. When trying to collect on past year taxes, the IRS can spend a lot of money following leads, investigating records, and chasing people down. Or they can convince people to pay their past year taxes voluntarily. Usually, the latter course is a better one for everyone involved; you get to stop worrying about the huge and growing tax debt, and the IRS gets their money witha lot less hassle.
What does the IRS do when you get in touch with them? The first change they make is to the interest rates you're charged. Instead of paying 1% per month, your rates go down to .25% per month. In other words, they go from more than you'd pay on a large personal loan to less than you'd pay on your mortgage. That alone is a good reason to deal with your past year taxes, but the IRS offers something else, too. While you're not paying, they will occasionally tack on fees related to the delinquency. Those fees add up over time -- until you agree to pay, at which point they stop.
Agreeing to pay your past year taxes doesn't mean having to pay in a lump sum. The IRS often agrees to let you pay your past year taxes over a period of months, giving you a chance to catch your breath financially and get ready to pay the full amount. While it can be intimidating to have to pay up even over a few months, the IRS is generally not a creditor you want to have.
Paying your past year taxes with another form of debt, while not a good long-term strategy, is at least a viable stopgap. For example, if you can borrow money at less than 12% per year, you'll save on the final amount by borrowing the money, paying the IRS, and then paying back the loan at less than the IRS rate.
The closer you get to a complicated financial transaction, the more likely it is that you'll want professional tax and accounting help. Your past year taxes started out as a simple problem (filing a form with a single government agency, writing a check -- or, more likely than you'd think, getting one), but has mushroomed into something larger. Adding more layers to the transaction can make your problems accumulate faster, too.
Overall, past year taxes are a solvable problem. They're just a problem that demands careful attention and a little information. If you're worried about your past year taxes, keep two things in mind: first, they compound when you don't deal with them. That interest is accumulating even when you're not paying attention, and those fines add up. But second, once you do start to solve things, your situation gets simpler, fast.
Avoid These 10 Tax Mistakes
Everyone wants to avoid mistakes on their taxes. Going through an audit is stressful and if you make mistakes, you are more likely to be selected for an audit. If you are careful to avoid these tax mistakes though, you can feel more confident.
- Incorrect deductions
- Not starting early
- Lying about income
- Trying to avoid paying
Some people realize that they own money to the government and try to avoid paying by simply not filing. This is illegal and you can get in a lot of trouble for doing this.
- Not offsetting stock gains
If you sell a stock for a gain, then you will have to pay taxes. You can balance this out by selling a losing stock and deducting the loss. Most people don't do this though.
- Not adding to retirement savings
Your retirement savings are very important for your future, but beyond that, they can help you save money on your taxes in the short term. Certain retirement funds are tax deferred which means that paying into them will reduce your gross earnings.
- Not submitting all relevant documents
If you are itemizing deductions or have anything on your tax form that would make it stand out, you should make sure that you submit any supporting documents to avoid an audit.
- Withholding too much
Many people have too much money withdrawn for their taxes. Sure, they get a big refund in the spring, but they've given the government an interest-free loan. With a bit of fiscal responsibility, this money could have been earning them interest.
- Not keeping the receipts for your deductions
If you are going to itemize your deductions, you need to make sure that you keep your receipts as proof.
- Math errors
Surprisingly, many returns are flagged for audit each year just because of simple math errors.
Spending $1 a day on food
Rebecca Currie loves to eat, and generally spends (this may amaze you) $80 or $90 a month on food, not including a couple restaurant meals.
She's launched a 30-day project, detailed at her blog Less Is Enough, to spend a dollar a day for food -- not calorie-laden, processed food, but food that is good for you. That's her whole point: You can eat well for much less than you think.
It seems to be working.
Two things motivated Rebecca (whose project was featured in the New York Daily News):
She's launched a 30-day project, detailed at her blog Less Is Enough, to spend a dollar a day for food -- not calorie-laden, processed food, but food that is good for you. That's her whole point: You can eat well for much less than you think.
It seems to be working.
Two things motivated Rebecca (whose project was featured in the New York Daily News):
- A New York Times article about a study that showed how high-calorie, processed food is cheaper per calorie than healthy alternatives, and related concerns that a bad economy will drive people to worse eating habits than they already have.
- The One Dollar Diet Project blog, about two teachers who each ate a dollar's worth of food a day for a month. She didn't really relish their approach. She said they transitioned quickly from a $150-a-week diet to lots of peanut butter and other boring staples. To Rebecca, that project was like running a marathon without any training. Of course it hurt.
At the end, one of them said, "I challenge anyone in America to eat fresh food for a dollar a day."
Count Rebecca in. Here's what she did:
- She started with no food in the pantry.
- She allotted a dollar, more or less, for food spending each day. She initially consumed less than a dollar's worth of food as she built up modest supplies in her pantry (no bulk buying and no coupons). Her method also eliminated the tedium of figuring out the unit cost of items for every meal.
- She cooks simple, nutritious and often organic meals, eating lots of whole grains, legumes and fresh veggies. (She found extra carbs in a 49-cent box of Jiffy biscuit mix.) As her stash of food has grown, the meals have improved. You can read her daily food record here. There's no sense of deprivation, unlike the strange tale of the blogger who ate only Chef Boyardee for a month. (We're not making that up.)
- She eats only two meals a day, which has been her routine for years.She writes, "In addition to wanting to see if I could meet the challenge, I also wanted to demonstrate an approach to cooking and eating that I've used for the past 10-plus years that allows me to eat well for much less than most people think possible."
Has she been hungry? During the first five or so days, she had "an undercurrent" of hunger. After that, she was all right. (Although when she writes about her first "meat" purchase, a huge chicken leg she cooked on Day 12, she's practically drooling.)
This project -- a fundraiser for The Scrap Exchange, a nonprofit "creative reuse" center in Durham, N.C. -- is not just about food, but about an approach to life. One of her posts describes lessons from a favorite book, M.F.K. Fisher's World War II-era "How to Cook a Wolf," which is once again popular. Rebecca adds, "I hate it when things I like get trendy."
Her project is about knowledge and how you use it. She writes:
Knowledge and creativity are the most important resources in the world -- far more important than money. If you know what you're doing, you can use basic items in place of things you would otherwise have to pay much more for. You can work with building blocks instead of buildings.
And if you're creative, everything is a building block, and you can combine them in a million different ways.
When friends, family beg for bailouts
After the economy tanked last fall, Rob DeSantis' phone began ringing. Suddenly friends, family and neighbors were begging him for financial help. It's not hard to see why. DeSantis is ultrawealthy, having co-founded Ariba, a dot-com-era startup that pioneered online purchasing for large companies.
In one week in October alone, DeSantis says, the requests totaled half a million dollars. In December came an additional $1.5 million in pleas.
The cries for help moved him profoundly. "My first thought when they call is, 'Oh, no, not you, too,' and it makes me want to help," says DeSantis, who is working on a book and looking at deals in green technology. "They want to keep their house, their company, whatever. It pulls on your heartstrings."
DeSantis has plenty of company these days. There's the billionaire whose brother-in-law stopped speaking to him after he refused to increase the man's small-business loan. The two friends who fell out after one asked the other to pay off her mortgage. The 21-year-old trust-funder whose strapped friend was caught shoplifting just before Christmas. He hadn't heard from her for a year, and suddenly she was on the phone asking whether he could bail her out of jail. "This hurt," he says, "because it told me she looked at me as a sort of bank."
As the government bails out one industry after another, America's affluent are doing the same for their friends and families. And just as the feds' largesse can have unintended consequences, so can the personal bailout. Givers can feel put upon, recipients beholden. Like many in his position, DeSantis sought professional help. He called his wealth therapists: Joan Indursky DiFuria, a commodities executive turned family counselor, and psychologist Stephen Goldbart, who together run San Francisco's Money, Meaning & Choices Institute.
Talk back: Are friends and family hitting you up for help?
In recent months, DiFuria and Goldbart say they have been rushing from mansion to pied-Ã -terre, helping the moneyed class figure out how to deal with down-and-out friends and relatives without turning them into welfare cases. DiFuria says clients are plagued with thoughts like: "Should I be helpful? In what way should I be helpful?"
Fixing others' lives Like many people who start life in humble circumstances, DeSantis says he has struggled with "being good at being rich." When Ariba went public in 1999, DeSantis fleetingly became a paper billionaire at age 38. It was a head trip for a guy who grew up in a 900-square-foot house. That, in part, is why DeSantis' financial adviser introduced him to Goldbart and DiFuria in 2002. At the time, the therapists were helping other extremely rich people handle what Goldbart and DiFuria had dubbed sudden wealth syndrome.
DeSantis' first impulse was to shower the people he loved with lucre -- to transform lives with one check. It wasn't long before his largesse began to backfire. One recipient in particular stands out. DeSantis paid off all of the person's debt -- an act of generosity that cost him about half a million dollars.
"I wanted to give him a get-out-of-jail-free card," recalls DeSantis. When the economy tanked last fall, guess who came knocking? DeSantis' beneficiary was looking for another handout, pleading that without it, he would lose his house and slide into bankruptcy.
Can you stop a money train wreck?
DeSantis set up a session with Goldbart and DiFuria in November. He was torn up with anxiety. He felt that if he didn't help the guy, no one would. Over sandwiches and bottled water in DeSantis' home office, Goldbart and DiFuria reminded him of the best practices they had worked on for giving: analyzing each request on a case-by-case basis, outsourcing the negotiation and management of the requests to a third party, and seeing if there were nonfinancial ways to help friends in need.
They discussed what had happened the last time DeSantis had helped this person. How after bailing him out, DeSantis had watched the man quit his executive-level job at a major corporation, run up his credit cards and use his house as an ATM. How DeSantis had tried positive persuasion to get him to change his free-spending ways: "Hey, you're in a great position to be thinking about what you'll be doing," DeSantis would say. How the message never seemed to take.
"I feel like I've hurt him more than I have helped him," DeSantis told Goldbart and DiFuria. The therapists were emphatic. "If you don't break off this trust-fund syndrome, Rob, you'll always be enabling him," Goldbart said. Armed with that advice, DeSantis turned down the request. And then something amazing happened: After being cut off, DeSantis' supplicant got a job and saved his house from foreclosure.
"I have made the decision to not help anyone to just make it go away," DeSantis says. "If there is acute short-term pain I can bridge, I've done that. But if it's a 50-year problem, there are other ways."
Former Charles Schwab CEO David Pottruck and his wife, Emily, an author and social activist, are among the Bay Area's leading philanthropists. Besides donating millions of dollars to charities over the years, the Pottrucks have given generously to friends and family, often to people David grew up with. In most cases, the Pottrucks bailed out people with no questions or strings attached.
But now and then, Emily was rankled by some recipients' seeming sense of entitlement. "I think there are people out there who think, 'Oh, well, he's so rich, what does he care?'"
Even before Wall Street collapsed in September, the couple were inundated with requests for money. The amounts ranged from thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars, for everything from living expenses to tuition to house payments. Like most couples, the Pottrucks sometimes argued about money, especially their philanthropic choices. After hearing them agonize over how much money to give their children, a banker friend recommended they see Goldbart and DiFuria.
The right way to lend money to family members
At first, Emily was deeply skeptical about how two therapists could help with financial matters. "I thought, 'Gag me with a spoon,'" she recalls.
Then, during a six-hour retreat at the Pottrucks' San Francisco home, Goldbart and DiFuria investigated the couple's values about money, what was important to them in life, how much money they should give their kids and how they could strategically go about achieving their philanthropic goals. By the end of the session, Emily felt she and David understood each other's money values better than they ever had. They had different priorities, but that didn't mean they had to judge each other.
Gift, loan or refusal?
As all the requests for money began rolling in, Goldbart and DiFuria counseled the couple to provide for needs, not wants. They told the Pottrucks it was not necessary to give carte blanche; in some cases, loans would be appropriate. They also taught them how to ensure that the gift and loan agreements were on their terms, not the recipients'.
Emily put this advice to use with two people last fall. After hearing the requests and empathizing with the circumstances, Emily politely responded that they would be happy to extend a loan but that they should also talk about a reasonable repayment plan. One person took them up on the offer. The other "we haven't heard back from," says Emily.
Every four months, Goldbart and DiFuria meet with two 20-something siblings at the Executive Inn & Suites in Oakland. Two adjoining rooms become their makeshift retreat center. Three years ago, the brother and sister lost their father, a self-made multimillionaire. They began seeing the therapists because the trustee of their estate didn't want the wealth to negatively affect them.
Last fall, the son mentioned that he had a friend who needed several thousand dollars. "He wanted to sort of look at it as if I was a bank loaning him money," he told the therapists. Goldbart and DiFuria reminded the son of an earlier occasion on which he had lent money to a friend. "They reminded me of how it changes the relationship when you do that," the son says. He recalls feeling as though he were playing the father role. Goldbart and DiFuria proposed giving anonymously. The son had another idea:
"If a friend is spending more money than they own, I'd be more than willing to pay for a couple of sessions with a professional regarding debt and money management," he says. "Treating the symptom, throwing money at it, isn't going to provide long-term benefit for anybody."
In one week in October alone, DeSantis says, the requests totaled half a million dollars. In December came an additional $1.5 million in pleas.
The cries for help moved him profoundly. "My first thought when they call is, 'Oh, no, not you, too,' and it makes me want to help," says DeSantis, who is working on a book and looking at deals in green technology. "They want to keep their house, their company, whatever. It pulls on your heartstrings."
DeSantis has plenty of company these days. There's the billionaire whose brother-in-law stopped speaking to him after he refused to increase the man's small-business loan. The two friends who fell out after one asked the other to pay off her mortgage. The 21-year-old trust-funder whose strapped friend was caught shoplifting just before Christmas. He hadn't heard from her for a year, and suddenly she was on the phone asking whether he could bail her out of jail. "This hurt," he says, "because it told me she looked at me as a sort of bank."
As the government bails out one industry after another, America's affluent are doing the same for their friends and families. And just as the feds' largesse can have unintended consequences, so can the personal bailout. Givers can feel put upon, recipients beholden. Like many in his position, DeSantis sought professional help. He called his wealth therapists: Joan Indursky DiFuria, a commodities executive turned family counselor, and psychologist Stephen Goldbart, who together run San Francisco's Money, Meaning & Choices Institute.
Talk back: Are friends and family hitting you up for help?
In recent months, DiFuria and Goldbart say they have been rushing from mansion to pied-Ã -terre, helping the moneyed class figure out how to deal with down-and-out friends and relatives without turning them into welfare cases. DiFuria says clients are plagued with thoughts like: "Should I be helpful? In what way should I be helpful?"
Fixing others' lives Like many people who start life in humble circumstances, DeSantis says he has struggled with "being good at being rich." When Ariba went public in 1999, DeSantis fleetingly became a paper billionaire at age 38. It was a head trip for a guy who grew up in a 900-square-foot house. That, in part, is why DeSantis' financial adviser introduced him to Goldbart and DiFuria in 2002. At the time, the therapists were helping other extremely rich people handle what Goldbart and DiFuria had dubbed sudden wealth syndrome.
DeSantis' first impulse was to shower the people he loved with lucre -- to transform lives with one check. It wasn't long before his largesse began to backfire. One recipient in particular stands out. DeSantis paid off all of the person's debt -- an act of generosity that cost him about half a million dollars.
"I wanted to give him a get-out-of-jail-free card," recalls DeSantis. When the economy tanked last fall, guess who came knocking? DeSantis' beneficiary was looking for another handout, pleading that without it, he would lose his house and slide into bankruptcy.
Can you stop a money train wreck?
DeSantis set up a session with Goldbart and DiFuria in November. He was torn up with anxiety. He felt that if he didn't help the guy, no one would. Over sandwiches and bottled water in DeSantis' home office, Goldbart and DiFuria reminded him of the best practices they had worked on for giving: analyzing each request on a case-by-case basis, outsourcing the negotiation and management of the requests to a third party, and seeing if there were nonfinancial ways to help friends in need.
They discussed what had happened the last time DeSantis had helped this person. How after bailing him out, DeSantis had watched the man quit his executive-level job at a major corporation, run up his credit cards and use his house as an ATM. How DeSantis had tried positive persuasion to get him to change his free-spending ways: "Hey, you're in a great position to be thinking about what you'll be doing," DeSantis would say. How the message never seemed to take.
"I feel like I've hurt him more than I have helped him," DeSantis told Goldbart and DiFuria. The therapists were emphatic. "If you don't break off this trust-fund syndrome, Rob, you'll always be enabling him," Goldbart said. Armed with that advice, DeSantis turned down the request. And then something amazing happened: After being cut off, DeSantis' supplicant got a job and saved his house from foreclosure.
"I have made the decision to not help anyone to just make it go away," DeSantis says. "If there is acute short-term pain I can bridge, I've done that. But if it's a 50-year problem, there are other ways."
Former Charles Schwab CEO David Pottruck and his wife, Emily, an author and social activist, are among the Bay Area's leading philanthropists. Besides donating millions of dollars to charities over the years, the Pottrucks have given generously to friends and family, often to people David grew up with. In most cases, the Pottrucks bailed out people with no questions or strings attached.
But now and then, Emily was rankled by some recipients' seeming sense of entitlement. "I think there are people out there who think, 'Oh, well, he's so rich, what does he care?'"
Even before Wall Street collapsed in September, the couple were inundated with requests for money. The amounts ranged from thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars, for everything from living expenses to tuition to house payments. Like most couples, the Pottrucks sometimes argued about money, especially their philanthropic choices. After hearing them agonize over how much money to give their children, a banker friend recommended they see Goldbart and DiFuria.
The right way to lend money to family members
At first, Emily was deeply skeptical about how two therapists could help with financial matters. "I thought, 'Gag me with a spoon,'" she recalls.
Then, during a six-hour retreat at the Pottrucks' San Francisco home, Goldbart and DiFuria investigated the couple's values about money, what was important to them in life, how much money they should give their kids and how they could strategically go about achieving their philanthropic goals. By the end of the session, Emily felt she and David understood each other's money values better than they ever had. They had different priorities, but that didn't mean they had to judge each other.
Gift, loan or refusal?
As all the requests for money began rolling in, Goldbart and DiFuria counseled the couple to provide for needs, not wants. They told the Pottrucks it was not necessary to give carte blanche; in some cases, loans would be appropriate. They also taught them how to ensure that the gift and loan agreements were on their terms, not the recipients'.
Emily put this advice to use with two people last fall. After hearing the requests and empathizing with the circumstances, Emily politely responded that they would be happy to extend a loan but that they should also talk about a reasonable repayment plan. One person took them up on the offer. The other "we haven't heard back from," says Emily.
Every four months, Goldbart and DiFuria meet with two 20-something siblings at the Executive Inn & Suites in Oakland. Two adjoining rooms become their makeshift retreat center. Three years ago, the brother and sister lost their father, a self-made multimillionaire. They began seeing the therapists because the trustee of their estate didn't want the wealth to negatively affect them.
Last fall, the son mentioned that he had a friend who needed several thousand dollars. "He wanted to sort of look at it as if I was a bank loaning him money," he told the therapists. Goldbart and DiFuria reminded the son of an earlier occasion on which he had lent money to a friend. "They reminded me of how it changes the relationship when you do that," the son says. He recalls feeling as though he were playing the father role. Goldbart and DiFuria proposed giving anonymously. The son had another idea:
"If a friend is spending more money than they own, I'd be more than willing to pay for a couple of sessions with a professional regarding debt and money management," he says. "Treating the symptom, throwing money at it, isn't going to provide long-term benefit for anybody."
The Best Way to Apply For and Get Free College Grants
Do you want to go to college, but you just can't afford to? There are too many people that have this same problem. The best way to achieve this goal is to apply for free college grants. There are two different ways that you can use to apply for college grants. It is not hard to do, but it will take time.
are the best two ways that you can use to apply for free college grants.
One: You can use the internet to find applications for college grants. There are many sites online that offer this. You will have to search until you find a good site that will help you get the free college grants that you need. It may take you some time to apply for and get the grant because you will basically be doing this all on your own. There will be help for you to find online if needed, but you will still have to do all the work yourself.
Two: Go to the student office of the college that you are going to attend. They will have someone that can help you apply for free college grants. Colleges help students get college grants every day, so they can be a huge help. You will have to do your part, but you won't be alone.
So, you need to decide which way you are going to use to apply for free college grants and then just do it. The only way you will be able to get the college grants that you need is to take action and make it happen. Anyone can get a grant if they just do the work needed and apply.
are the best two ways that you can use to apply for free college grants.
One: You can use the internet to find applications for college grants. There are many sites online that offer this. You will have to search until you find a good site that will help you get the free college grants that you need. It may take you some time to apply for and get the grant because you will basically be doing this all on your own. There will be help for you to find online if needed, but you will still have to do all the work yourself.
Two: Go to the student office of the college that you are going to attend. They will have someone that can help you apply for free college grants. Colleges help students get college grants every day, so they can be a huge help. You will have to do your part, but you won't be alone.
So, you need to decide which way you are going to use to apply for free college grants and then just do it. The only way you will be able to get the college grants that you need is to take action and make it happen. Anyone can get a grant if they just do the work needed and apply.
Understanding Bank Charges to Protect Your Money
Bank charges can be difficult to understand and seem to sneak up on you when you aren't looking, but with a little understanding you can watch for any bank charge and learn how to claim bank charges in the correct way. PPI (Payment Protection Insurance) may not be a charge you even think about, but you pay it and if you never use it the bank is just making money off of you, instead of the other way around. You can reclaim your PPI payments and reclaim other bank funds, even if you have gone over the limits of your account and had to pay for those mistakes. Banks don't want you to know you can reclaim PPI payments or other bank charges because that is less for them and more for you.
Before you can start the process of reclaiming your bank charges you should understand what bank charges are standard and which can be reclaimed. Your account is usually set up with a set of standard bank charges designed to help you be a responsible financial customer and learn how to manage your money. These include overdraft fees, balance minimums and PPI fees. These fees are all paid almost without your knowledge as they are often small, but over time can add up and if you are hit with multiple overdraft fees at a time can be devastating.
Though you pay a PPI charge to protect your account, if you never need the protection you should be able to get that amount back, right? When you file a PPI claim you should consider the length of your account, the number of PPI payments you've made and the lack of mistakes you have made that the coverage didn't need to cover. This is all how you prove to the bank that you should receive that money back and how as a responsible financial account holder, you are entitled to receive a refund on the money you have invested into having an account with them.
Bank charges can be a fickle and strange world to navigate, but with a basic understanding of the charges you pay each month, you can get back some of the hard earned money you spend to keep your accounts active and in good standing. When looking for a way to save on the fees and expenses you have just to get through the normal standings in life, look for the little things like refunds on bank charges.
Before you can start the process of reclaiming your bank charges you should understand what bank charges are standard and which can be reclaimed. Your account is usually set up with a set of standard bank charges designed to help you be a responsible financial customer and learn how to manage your money. These include overdraft fees, balance minimums and PPI fees. These fees are all paid almost without your knowledge as they are often small, but over time can add up and if you are hit with multiple overdraft fees at a time can be devastating.
Though you pay a PPI charge to protect your account, if you never need the protection you should be able to get that amount back, right? When you file a PPI claim you should consider the length of your account, the number of PPI payments you've made and the lack of mistakes you have made that the coverage didn't need to cover. This is all how you prove to the bank that you should receive that money back and how as a responsible financial account holder, you are entitled to receive a refund on the money you have invested into having an account with them.
Bank charges can be a fickle and strange world to navigate, but with a basic understanding of the charges you pay each month, you can get back some of the hard earned money you spend to keep your accounts active and in good standing. When looking for a way to save on the fees and expenses you have just to get through the normal standings in life, look for the little things like refunds on bank charges.
7 Tips to Modify Your Loan and Lower Your Payment
If you are one of the thousands of homeowners trying to get help to stay in their home with a Wells Fargo loan modification that will lower your mortgage payment, you need to learn about how to increase your chances for success. Applying for a Wells Fargo loan modification program will give you the chance to lower you monthly payment so you can afford to stay in your home and avoid foreclosure. Unfortunately, not all borrowers will qualify for this help-why do some homeowners get approved while others are denied? Here are 7 Tips that will help you get your loan modification application approved:
Tip #1: Learn the lenders guidelines for approval before you send in your paperwork. Wells Fargo has implemented certain requirements that must be met to be approved. Once you know what these are, you will be able to complete the forms properly to increase your chance for approval.
Tip #2: Gather all of your bills and household expenses together, sit down and figure out a new family budget that eliminates all unnecessary expenses. You must show the lender that you are making sustained home ownership a priority.
Tip #3: Write a convincing letter explaining your circumstances that will tell the story of why you are having financial difficulties, what steps have been taken to correct the situation, and your commitment to continued home ownership. You can get help to write your own letter with a Hardship Letter outline and letter template.
Tip #4: Provide the lender with documentation to back up your hardship story. If you were laid off, give them a copy of the notice from your employer, if you had medical expense, copies of the bills. This will add credibility to your request for loan modification help.
Tip #5: Learn how to calculate your debt ratio so that you can arrive at your new modified mortgage payment that meets the Wells Fargo loan modification program guidelines. The bank needs to see that the new payment will not exceed approximately 40% of your gross monthly income. You can get more information about this very important tip and help to figure this all out.
Tip #6: Take your time and carefully complete the required loan modification application forms so that they will be accurate and acceptable. How you complete these forms will in large part determine if you receive an approval. You must show Wells Fargo that while you cannot afford the current payment, you will be able to pay and maintain the new mortgage payment. This can be tricky, but make it easy by providing a Current and a Proposed Financial Statement.
Tip #7: Submit a complete, accurate and acceptable application that meets the Wells Fargo loan modification program guidelines. Missing or incomplete packages will be rejected and valuable time will be lost. How can you make sure you are sending in everything required? Easy, follow a Document Submission Checklist.
You can definitely increase your chances for receiving a Wells Fargo loan modification by learning and preparing ahead of time. It is pretty hard to qualify for something that you do not even know the requirements for! While not everyone will be approved, you can really give yourself the fighting chance you need to save your home by taking the time to learn all about the loan modification approval process before you contact the lender.
This is not brain surgery, most borrowers can follow the easy steps and put together an acceptable loan modification application that will result in help to stay in their home. This is a frightening and confusing situation, but doing nothing is not the answer. Make the decision to take control of your financial future and get started today so you can be on your way to secure home ownership again.
Tip #1: Learn the lenders guidelines for approval before you send in your paperwork. Wells Fargo has implemented certain requirements that must be met to be approved. Once you know what these are, you will be able to complete the forms properly to increase your chance for approval.
Tip #2: Gather all of your bills and household expenses together, sit down and figure out a new family budget that eliminates all unnecessary expenses. You must show the lender that you are making sustained home ownership a priority.
Tip #3: Write a convincing letter explaining your circumstances that will tell the story of why you are having financial difficulties, what steps have been taken to correct the situation, and your commitment to continued home ownership. You can get help to write your own letter with a Hardship Letter outline and letter template.
Tip #4: Provide the lender with documentation to back up your hardship story. If you were laid off, give them a copy of the notice from your employer, if you had medical expense, copies of the bills. This will add credibility to your request for loan modification help.
Tip #5: Learn how to calculate your debt ratio so that you can arrive at your new modified mortgage payment that meets the Wells Fargo loan modification program guidelines. The bank needs to see that the new payment will not exceed approximately 40% of your gross monthly income. You can get more information about this very important tip and help to figure this all out.
Tip #6: Take your time and carefully complete the required loan modification application forms so that they will be accurate and acceptable. How you complete these forms will in large part determine if you receive an approval. You must show Wells Fargo that while you cannot afford the current payment, you will be able to pay and maintain the new mortgage payment. This can be tricky, but make it easy by providing a Current and a Proposed Financial Statement.
Tip #7: Submit a complete, accurate and acceptable application that meets the Wells Fargo loan modification program guidelines. Missing or incomplete packages will be rejected and valuable time will be lost. How can you make sure you are sending in everything required? Easy, follow a Document Submission Checklist.
You can definitely increase your chances for receiving a Wells Fargo loan modification by learning and preparing ahead of time. It is pretty hard to qualify for something that you do not even know the requirements for! While not everyone will be approved, you can really give yourself the fighting chance you need to save your home by taking the time to learn all about the loan modification approval process before you contact the lender.
This is not brain surgery, most borrowers can follow the easy steps and put together an acceptable loan modification application that will result in help to stay in their home. This is a frightening and confusing situation, but doing nothing is not the answer. Make the decision to take control of your financial future and get started today so you can be on your way to secure home ownership again.
Disadvantages of Debt Consolidation
While there are many advantages to debt consolidation, there are a few concerns one must be aware of before approaching a debt consolidation company. There are a profound number of scams and 'non-profit' credit counseling companies which are actually only for-profit companies.
These kinds of companies do not have your best interests at heart, and you may be worse off than before you approached the company. Sometimes the benefits which are provided by a credit counseling company are actually benefits you can get yourself from your creditor if you just ask. For example: with a student loan, on some schedules after a certain number of on-time payments your interest rate is lowered a little bit. If you go with a debt management program or consolidate your student loans with a bank or other lender, you start over with the time period, so it can actually take longer for your interest rate to go down.
A disadvantage to debt consolidation through a second mortgage or a bank loan is that this is usually a secured loan. Failure to pay this kind of bill could result in you losing your home! In addition, you are still in debt, and usually with the same amount or only a slightly lower amount.
Many people respond to this form of debt consolidation as if they suddenly have no more debt, and go out and charge up their credit cards again! Thus, it is easy for a person in debt to end up in even more debt after they consolidate, and there are only so many times you can consolidate. It is important to have the right frame of mind before deciding to consolidate your debt, and to have the will not to land up in the same situation again.
Another disadvantage to a debt management program is that you cannot get new credit during this time. For some people, this is a good thing, as they need to learn discipline to ensure they do not get themselves into debt again. Unfortunately it is a fact of life that unexpected emergencies may occur as well as expenses you did not bargain for. Another thing is that some debts may not qualify for a debt management program, so you will still have to make multiple payments each month.
Another disadvantage could be that if you get an increase in your income, through a raise or a large income tax return, some debt management programs do not allow you to make extra payments ahead to your debts. Should you send them an extra cheque; they may simply hold that in an account for your next month's payment. It is a wise move for consumers using a debt management program to simply save any extra money they may have in an emergency fund or savings account.
It can also be difficult to consolidate. In using a bank loan to consolidate your other debts, you must qualify for a loan or mortgage. If you already have a lot of debt, your request may be turned down because the bank will feel you are too high-risk. On the other hand, to qualify for a debt management program, you actually need to have a minimum amount of non-house debt. This means your mortgage can not be included in a debt management program.
Whilst there are undoubtedly a number of disadvantages to consolidating your debt, sometimes the positive can outweigh the negative in the end. You may find debt consolidation through a debt management program to be the best option for your family. Simply be aware of the need to research each company and examine any loan offer very carefully.
These kinds of companies do not have your best interests at heart, and you may be worse off than before you approached the company. Sometimes the benefits which are provided by a credit counseling company are actually benefits you can get yourself from your creditor if you just ask. For example: with a student loan, on some schedules after a certain number of on-time payments your interest rate is lowered a little bit. If you go with a debt management program or consolidate your student loans with a bank or other lender, you start over with the time period, so it can actually take longer for your interest rate to go down.
A disadvantage to debt consolidation through a second mortgage or a bank loan is that this is usually a secured loan. Failure to pay this kind of bill could result in you losing your home! In addition, you are still in debt, and usually with the same amount or only a slightly lower amount.
Many people respond to this form of debt consolidation as if they suddenly have no more debt, and go out and charge up their credit cards again! Thus, it is easy for a person in debt to end up in even more debt after they consolidate, and there are only so many times you can consolidate. It is important to have the right frame of mind before deciding to consolidate your debt, and to have the will not to land up in the same situation again.
Another disadvantage to a debt management program is that you cannot get new credit during this time. For some people, this is a good thing, as they need to learn discipline to ensure they do not get themselves into debt again. Unfortunately it is a fact of life that unexpected emergencies may occur as well as expenses you did not bargain for. Another thing is that some debts may not qualify for a debt management program, so you will still have to make multiple payments each month.
Another disadvantage could be that if you get an increase in your income, through a raise or a large income tax return, some debt management programs do not allow you to make extra payments ahead to your debts. Should you send them an extra cheque; they may simply hold that in an account for your next month's payment. It is a wise move for consumers using a debt management program to simply save any extra money they may have in an emergency fund or savings account.
It can also be difficult to consolidate. In using a bank loan to consolidate your other debts, you must qualify for a loan or mortgage. If you already have a lot of debt, your request may be turned down because the bank will feel you are too high-risk. On the other hand, to qualify for a debt management program, you actually need to have a minimum amount of non-house debt. This means your mortgage can not be included in a debt management program.
Whilst there are undoubtedly a number of disadvantages to consolidating your debt, sometimes the positive can outweigh the negative in the end. You may find debt consolidation through a debt management program to be the best option for your family. Simply be aware of the need to research each company and examine any loan offer very carefully.
10 Habits of Extremely Wealthy People!
In my career, as a big event promoter I've met a lot of wealthy, and extremely wealthy people and would like to share the ten most common traits that I've noticed in the people who have become most financially successful, so that you can begin your journey to becoming Ireland's next Millionaire.
1. They make decisions - they don't talk about it, they decide either way and move ahead. As the old saying goes, would you rather be glad you did or wish you had,
2. Come up with an idea - this is where all the money in the world comes from. People who have money have all benefited from good ideas in some shape or form. Consider McDonalds, Microsoft, Google, eBay you name it. They all began with an idea, and by acting on your own ideas you too can begin to make your fortune,
3. Formulate a plan - a bad plan is better than no plan, or as Roy Keane put it during his famous spat with Mick McCarthy, ex Manager of the Ireland squad "by failing to prepare, we were preparing to fail." Figure out the steps that you're going to need to take to get to where you want to go, roughly how long its going to take, and who do you need to get on board to help you,
4. Take action, do something, get started - the best ideas in the world don't mean anything or count for anything, unless you act upon them. Action is the secret ingredient to major success in life, and if you look around to those who are successful in your own community, it is extremely likely that you will notice that are always in motion, always active,
5. Observe what happens next - by getting into motion you are developing a prerequisite for success. This doesn't mean that you're going to make a hole in one with your first shot though, so pay attention to the results you're getting. Find out what you need to be measuring in order to know if you're succeeding or failing,
6. Correct, adapt, improve, increase - when you're succeeding you will want to gently improve things to further increase your results. If you're not, the sooner you notice and begin to make changes the better. Sometimes the difference between success and failure can be ever so slight,
7. Manage your stuff - whatever it is that you want in life, you must manage it. Good health requires a balance of work, relaxation, exercise and nutritious food. Financial success requires healthy positive cashflow that exceeds outgoings, and an excellent understanding of your own individual personal financial circumstances. The key is in paying attention to whatever it is that you want more of,
8. Persist - as Winston Churchill put it - "Never give up. Never give up. Never give up." it doesn't get much clearer than that. To succeed you simply must persist, and its only when the going is tough that you will ever truly test this ability,
9. Reinvest/Diversify - When the profits start rolling in what are you going to do now. Sit down and figure it out. How much goes where, back into the business, into your pocket, to charity wherever. Get a smart plan that will ensure the longevity of your success,
10. Celebrate - A life worth living is a life worth celebrating. By celebrating your victories, however small you will get the opportunity to celebrate more of them.
I wish you luck!
1. They make decisions - they don't talk about it, they decide either way and move ahead. As the old saying goes, would you rather be glad you did or wish you had,
2. Come up with an idea - this is where all the money in the world comes from. People who have money have all benefited from good ideas in some shape or form. Consider McDonalds, Microsoft, Google, eBay you name it. They all began with an idea, and by acting on your own ideas you too can begin to make your fortune,
3. Formulate a plan - a bad plan is better than no plan, or as Roy Keane put it during his famous spat with Mick McCarthy, ex Manager of the Ireland squad "by failing to prepare, we were preparing to fail." Figure out the steps that you're going to need to take to get to where you want to go, roughly how long its going to take, and who do you need to get on board to help you,
4. Take action, do something, get started - the best ideas in the world don't mean anything or count for anything, unless you act upon them. Action is the secret ingredient to major success in life, and if you look around to those who are successful in your own community, it is extremely likely that you will notice that are always in motion, always active,
5. Observe what happens next - by getting into motion you are developing a prerequisite for success. This doesn't mean that you're going to make a hole in one with your first shot though, so pay attention to the results you're getting. Find out what you need to be measuring in order to know if you're succeeding or failing,
6. Correct, adapt, improve, increase - when you're succeeding you will want to gently improve things to further increase your results. If you're not, the sooner you notice and begin to make changes the better. Sometimes the difference between success and failure can be ever so slight,
7. Manage your stuff - whatever it is that you want in life, you must manage it. Good health requires a balance of work, relaxation, exercise and nutritious food. Financial success requires healthy positive cashflow that exceeds outgoings, and an excellent understanding of your own individual personal financial circumstances. The key is in paying attention to whatever it is that you want more of,
8. Persist - as Winston Churchill put it - "Never give up. Never give up. Never give up." it doesn't get much clearer than that. To succeed you simply must persist, and its only when the going is tough that you will ever truly test this ability,
9. Reinvest/Diversify - When the profits start rolling in what are you going to do now. Sit down and figure it out. How much goes where, back into the business, into your pocket, to charity wherever. Get a smart plan that will ensure the longevity of your success,
10. Celebrate - A life worth living is a life worth celebrating. By celebrating your victories, however small you will get the opportunity to celebrate more of them.
I wish you luck!
How to Make Money Without Money in 2009
This is one of the conundrums that I know many people are facing at the moment. They have been made redundant or are simply out of work. Any money coming in is nowhere near enough to live off properly. So you are facing the new year with little or no money and poor prospects of things changing. How to make money without money seems impossible. Now I am not going to sit here and tell you that I have a magic wand of an idea that will sort out all your financial worries but I can give you a few examples of how to make a start.
Use a practical skill you already have
What I mean by this is offer to do a task or job that other people are prepared to pay you for. This can be anything from gardening or window cleaning. The point is to keep it practical and simple. If you are prepared to work then you can find work just by getting out there. I know someone who had no work. They printed 6000 handbills and personally delivered them to houses in their locality. As a result of this he got calls and work valued at £3,000. All it cost was some paper and printer ink and a lot of leg work. Another person I used recently fixed a leaking roof for me. I told him that all the roofs on the estate had the same problem and needed repair. So he simply told people what he had done in fixing my roof to other people in the area and he was inundated with more of the same sort of work.
Use computer skills you already have
If you know your way around computers then you can very easily make money without money. There are 2 ways you can do this. Firstly you can offer to write content or prepare graphics or even produce websites for people. If you have some specialist knowledge or skills then you can sell them online. The other thing you can do is to go into internet marketing. There are a huge number of ways to make money online. From simple AdSense websites to specialist sales websites there is a wealth of ways to make money online. And the beauty of the internet is that most of the resources you need are freely available.
Use a practical skill you already have
What I mean by this is offer to do a task or job that other people are prepared to pay you for. This can be anything from gardening or window cleaning. The point is to keep it practical and simple. If you are prepared to work then you can find work just by getting out there. I know someone who had no work. They printed 6000 handbills and personally delivered them to houses in their locality. As a result of this he got calls and work valued at £3,000. All it cost was some paper and printer ink and a lot of leg work. Another person I used recently fixed a leaking roof for me. I told him that all the roofs on the estate had the same problem and needed repair. So he simply told people what he had done in fixing my roof to other people in the area and he was inundated with more of the same sort of work.
Use computer skills you already have
If you know your way around computers then you can very easily make money without money. There are 2 ways you can do this. Firstly you can offer to write content or prepare graphics or even produce websites for people. If you have some specialist knowledge or skills then you can sell them online. The other thing you can do is to go into internet marketing. There are a huge number of ways to make money online. From simple AdSense websites to specialist sales websites there is a wealth of ways to make money online. And the beauty of the internet is that most of the resources you need are freely available.
What is Considered a Good Credit Score
You may have been wondering what is considered a good credit score and if your rating qualifies as a good score. There is no need to wonder whether it is good or not.
First of all you should look at the three Credit Reporting Agencies. You should see what your FICO score and report is to make sure that it is accurate. You should also look at your Experian and Transunion as well and make sure all the information on there is accurate.
If you find inconsistencies those are the first things that you should take care of before you take in account your real credit score. There is an entire process to getting those cleared off your credit reports.
Now that you know everything is accurate you know what your true credit score is. Basically, anything over 700 is a good credit rating. Your credit is extremely important if you are thinking of buying a home or even trying to lease a car. Almost everyone looks at your credit report nowadays to see what kind of person you are.
Even if you are looking for work your employer can check your credit score to see what it is. Sometimes getting hired depends on this. While that may not seem fair that is the way it works. If you do things to get your credit scoring up it shows people you are trying to do the right thing and you are working toward a better rating.
If you want to buy a home or get a FHA mortgage then you need to make sure that your credit is the best that it can be because it can determine what kind of rates you can get on your loan, and you need to know what is considered a good credit score to that company and you want the best rates possible for the biggest purchase that you will ever make.
When it comes to your credit it is not something to just not know or something that you can screw up. You need to keep your credit score high so that you can get the deals that you want, what is considered a good score to others may not be the same thing you consider a high rating.
Your goals may just to first get your credit score up to five or six hundred and keep working on it. It takes time but it will pay off in the long run. You will get the lowest rates the higher your score the lower the rates you can get, which means you pay out less money in the long run.
First of all you should look at the three Credit Reporting Agencies. You should see what your FICO score and report is to make sure that it is accurate. You should also look at your Experian and Transunion as well and make sure all the information on there is accurate.
If you find inconsistencies those are the first things that you should take care of before you take in account your real credit score. There is an entire process to getting those cleared off your credit reports.
Now that you know everything is accurate you know what your true credit score is. Basically, anything over 700 is a good credit rating. Your credit is extremely important if you are thinking of buying a home or even trying to lease a car. Almost everyone looks at your credit report nowadays to see what kind of person you are.
Even if you are looking for work your employer can check your credit score to see what it is. Sometimes getting hired depends on this. While that may not seem fair that is the way it works. If you do things to get your credit scoring up it shows people you are trying to do the right thing and you are working toward a better rating.
If you want to buy a home or get a FHA mortgage then you need to make sure that your credit is the best that it can be because it can determine what kind of rates you can get on your loan, and you need to know what is considered a good credit score to that company and you want the best rates possible for the biggest purchase that you will ever make.
When it comes to your credit it is not something to just not know or something that you can screw up. You need to keep your credit score high so that you can get the deals that you want, what is considered a good score to others may not be the same thing you consider a high rating.
Your goals may just to first get your credit score up to five or six hundred and keep working on it. It takes time but it will pay off in the long run. You will get the lowest rates the higher your score the lower the rates you can get, which means you pay out less money in the long run.
The Best Forex Software - Based on Performance
There are many approaches to determine which is the best forex software, but of course, I think you will agree with me that performance or profit potential is what matters the most when looking at the different options. Indeed, many factors can influence your perception of what the best forex software should be like, ranging from automation capabilities to user friendliness, but in the end, when you purchase this kind of tool you are essentially looking for one thing: profits.
Now, does it means that you should ignore all those factors and focus only on performance?
No, not at all, but it does mean that you have to make sure that the software you regard as the best for you is not only a great software, but a great performer.
I have used many forex software (some of which I simply have returned for a refund) and I did not know whether they where the best or not until I put them to use. However, in my continuous quest for the best trading tools, I have had the opportunity to see some very friendly softwares, some of which were fully automated while others where semi-automated.
My natural preference of course has always gone in favor of the fully automated forex software, but this fact has not blinded my judgment at the time of choosing the best trading tool, because although I love "easy to use" and "do nothing" capabilities, my main concern always will be "how much money will it make".
Until recently, it was hard to get a real idea about the performance of any given forex software before buying it, because all you could see once you landed on the website were the claims from its creators stating that "this one" is the best.
However, the landscape of the trading tools market has gone through some interesting changes due to serious improvements in the technology behind the best forex software, and now you can find what is called "live proof" of earnings in a few of those websites.
This means that the performance of a particular forex software has ceased to be a simple hyped promise to turn into an actual and live demonstration of trading capabilities. Based on this, it is far easier to make the right decision and really get the best trading tool, with the assurance that you are actually considering what matters the most: performance.
So when choosing the best forex software, sure it is important to consider things like your time availability (because that might determine the convenience for a fully automated option) and other factors, but always make sure that your choice is truly capable of making you money.
Now, does it means that you should ignore all those factors and focus only on performance?
No, not at all, but it does mean that you have to make sure that the software you regard as the best for you is not only a great software, but a great performer.
I have used many forex software (some of which I simply have returned for a refund) and I did not know whether they where the best or not until I put them to use. However, in my continuous quest for the best trading tools, I have had the opportunity to see some very friendly softwares, some of which were fully automated while others where semi-automated.
My natural preference of course has always gone in favor of the fully automated forex software, but this fact has not blinded my judgment at the time of choosing the best trading tool, because although I love "easy to use" and "do nothing" capabilities, my main concern always will be "how much money will it make".
Until recently, it was hard to get a real idea about the performance of any given forex software before buying it, because all you could see once you landed on the website were the claims from its creators stating that "this one" is the best.
However, the landscape of the trading tools market has gone through some interesting changes due to serious improvements in the technology behind the best forex software, and now you can find what is called "live proof" of earnings in a few of those websites.
This means that the performance of a particular forex software has ceased to be a simple hyped promise to turn into an actual and live demonstration of trading capabilities. Based on this, it is far easier to make the right decision and really get the best trading tool, with the assurance that you are actually considering what matters the most: performance.
So when choosing the best forex software, sure it is important to consider things like your time availability (because that might determine the convenience for a fully automated option) and other factors, but always make sure that your choice is truly capable of making you money.
7 Secrets Credit Card Companies Don't Want You to Know
Credit card debt is at an all-time high, yet consumer confidence in their ability to reduce debt is at an all-time low. To avoid bankruptcy, consumers need effective ways to reduce debt, especially to reduce credit card debt. These seven some simple solutions can help reduce credit card debt. Simply knowing these secrets may help people to reduce debt and avoid bankruptcy.
1. Study the fine print to reduce debt. Many times, credit card companies entice people to get cards because of low interest rates. What many don't realize is that these low balances are usually just introductory. While someone may think they can reduce debt by transferring the balance to a new card, they may in fact be doing the opposite, depending on what the interest rate is after the initial period. When you have a card with more than one interest rate (limited time offers or balance transfers), payments made will be applied to the lowest interest rate, while interest gets compounded on the higher interest rate.
2. Understand rolling balances to avoid bankruptcy: If balances are not paid in full each month, the amount is carried over, and any new purchases that month get interest accrued from the date of purchase. You do not get a 30-day grace period on your new purchases. A good goal to aim for is to try to pay the balance off completely each month.
3. Knowing the terms can help reduce debt. Your terms, such as interest rates, can change at any time for any reason, affecting current balances in the process. If you happen to make a late payment, for any reason, they can change the terms of the agreement. This can be detrimental to someone who is on the path of trying to reduce debt and avoid bankruptcy.
4. Know the legal rights to reduce credit card debt. The credit card companies do have the legal right to review your credit report at any time. They will be able to see if the consumer is trying to reduce debt with other creditors. Since they have access to someone's credit report, they could ultimately use some of that information against the person.
5. Universal default: The credit card companies can raise your interest rates at any time, simply because they check your credit report and see something they don't like. They are basically saying, "We have the full right to raise our rates if the customer might not repay us." Some credit card companies may charge up to 29 percent. Not keeping current on all credit cards can be used against you, even with cards you are keeping current on.
6. Beware of cancellation policies. Your credit limit can be reduced or your account canceled at any time, with no warning. Just like you have the access necessary to reduce or close your account at any time to reduce debt, they can also terminate your right to use a card.
7. Reduce debt and avoid bankruptcy with fewer cards. Keeping the number of cards you have to a minimum is ideal. It's better to have fewer cards with higher limits than it is to have many cards with low limits. The credit card issuer would like you to have ten of their cards, each with a $1,000 limit so they can assess each card with fees. Having just one to two cards with a limit of $10,000 each is ideal. Try to aim for not having more than two cards.
Trying to reduce debt, especially seeking to reduce credit card debt, and avoiding bankruptcy is entirely possible, even in this tough economy. However, consumers will need to have a clear understanding of how their credit cards work. If they don't understand the fine print and how the system works, they are not likely to reduce credit card debt. To avoid bankruptcy and reduce debt, consumers need to keep these tips in mind and put them into action.
1. Study the fine print to reduce debt. Many times, credit card companies entice people to get cards because of low interest rates. What many don't realize is that these low balances are usually just introductory. While someone may think they can reduce debt by transferring the balance to a new card, they may in fact be doing the opposite, depending on what the interest rate is after the initial period. When you have a card with more than one interest rate (limited time offers or balance transfers), payments made will be applied to the lowest interest rate, while interest gets compounded on the higher interest rate.
2. Understand rolling balances to avoid bankruptcy: If balances are not paid in full each month, the amount is carried over, and any new purchases that month get interest accrued from the date of purchase. You do not get a 30-day grace period on your new purchases. A good goal to aim for is to try to pay the balance off completely each month.
3. Knowing the terms can help reduce debt. Your terms, such as interest rates, can change at any time for any reason, affecting current balances in the process. If you happen to make a late payment, for any reason, they can change the terms of the agreement. This can be detrimental to someone who is on the path of trying to reduce debt and avoid bankruptcy.
4. Know the legal rights to reduce credit card debt. The credit card companies do have the legal right to review your credit report at any time. They will be able to see if the consumer is trying to reduce debt with other creditors. Since they have access to someone's credit report, they could ultimately use some of that information against the person.
5. Universal default: The credit card companies can raise your interest rates at any time, simply because they check your credit report and see something they don't like. They are basically saying, "We have the full right to raise our rates if the customer might not repay us." Some credit card companies may charge up to 29 percent. Not keeping current on all credit cards can be used against you, even with cards you are keeping current on.
6. Beware of cancellation policies. Your credit limit can be reduced or your account canceled at any time, with no warning. Just like you have the access necessary to reduce or close your account at any time to reduce debt, they can also terminate your right to use a card.
7. Reduce debt and avoid bankruptcy with fewer cards. Keeping the number of cards you have to a minimum is ideal. It's better to have fewer cards with higher limits than it is to have many cards with low limits. The credit card issuer would like you to have ten of their cards, each with a $1,000 limit so they can assess each card with fees. Having just one to two cards with a limit of $10,000 each is ideal. Try to aim for not having more than two cards.
Trying to reduce debt, especially seeking to reduce credit card debt, and avoiding bankruptcy is entirely possible, even in this tough economy. However, consumers will need to have a clear understanding of how their credit cards work. If they don't understand the fine print and how the system works, they are not likely to reduce credit card debt. To avoid bankruptcy and reduce debt, consumers need to keep these tips in mind and put them into action.
Top 10 Ways to Survive in 2009
1. Stop all completely unnecessary wasteful spending and pay off high interest debt
2. Don't try to sell your house for 2004 prices. Too many people are still in a house that they can barely afford because they are trying to sell it for more than anyone will buy it in todays market.
3. Find a cheap/free living situation. Move in with your parents/relatives/friends if you can.
4. Figure out how to make extra money online.
5. Save at least 30% of your income. Do not invest it unless you are extremely confident in your investment or large solid blue-chip companies like apple have dramatic stock plunges.
6. Learn to cook at home, and how to shop better at the grocery store. If you buy real nutritious food from the grocery store and cook it at home instead of eating out, you will save a significant amount of money each week. Don't go to the grocery store and buy a bunch of snacks. A big plus: your health should improve dramatically if you do this.
7. Spend your money on things which have real value to you. It's important that Americans continue to spend money. We should vote with our money though and spend on things that have true value to us, instead of spending on luxury items like jewelery, way too expensive clothing, electronics we won't even use etc.
8. Reduce your energy footprint. Get more efficient lighting, shut off lights, electronics, computers when not in use.
9. Learn basic survival skills like how to build a fire, create shelter, ration food, grow food, store food, do first aid etc. No one is hoping for the worst, but you never know how bad things could get.
10. It's the new year! End your senseless addictions to Starbucks, cigarettes, and McDonald's hamburgers.
2. Don't try to sell your house for 2004 prices. Too many people are still in a house that they can barely afford because they are trying to sell it for more than anyone will buy it in todays market.
3. Find a cheap/free living situation. Move in with your parents/relatives/friends if you can.
4. Figure out how to make extra money online.
5. Save at least 30% of your income. Do not invest it unless you are extremely confident in your investment or large solid blue-chip companies like apple have dramatic stock plunges.
6. Learn to cook at home, and how to shop better at the grocery store. If you buy real nutritious food from the grocery store and cook it at home instead of eating out, you will save a significant amount of money each week. Don't go to the grocery store and buy a bunch of snacks. A big plus: your health should improve dramatically if you do this.
7. Spend your money on things which have real value to you. It's important that Americans continue to spend money. We should vote with our money though and spend on things that have true value to us, instead of spending on luxury items like jewelery, way too expensive clothing, electronics we won't even use etc.
8. Reduce your energy footprint. Get more efficient lighting, shut off lights, electronics, computers when not in use.
9. Learn basic survival skills like how to build a fire, create shelter, ration food, grow food, store food, do first aid etc. No one is hoping for the worst, but you never know how bad things could get.
10. It's the new year! End your senseless addictions to Starbucks, cigarettes, and McDonald's hamburgers.